A group of House conservatives are heading to the White House Wednesday to discuss the path forward for avoiding a partial government shutdown.
‘It’s a meeting with the House Freedom Caucus leadership, and then a few of the people who philosophically share our feelings about the fiscal situation,’ House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital. ‘And we’re going to hear what the president has to say.’
Fresh off an internal battle that ended with House Republicans taking the first step to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda through the budget reconciliation process, GOP lawmakers are facing another looming fiscal fight.
Congressional negotiators have punted fiscal year 2025 government funding talks twice since the new fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2024. They did so by passing a continuing resolution, a short-term funding patch to extend current federal spending levels.
Congress could risk a partial government shutdown on Trump’s watch if nothing is done by the end of March 14. To avoid that, however, GOP leaders are looking to pass another continuing resolution, this time through the end of fiscal year 2025.
But Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse over the left’s demands that the resolution include assurances that Trump will not overstep Congress and spend less money than what’s appropriated.
Democratic votes have been critical to passing every continuing resolution since Republicans took the House in January 2023. And with a razor-thin majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can lose few votes to pass anything with just GOP support.
Trump has spoken out on the matter, calling on Republicans to pass a ‘clean’ extension of last year’s funds through the end of the fiscal year.
Republican leaders are hoping that will be enough to sway conservatives and other GOP lawmakers who normally are, on principle, opposed to continuing resolutions.
It is why several such lawmakers will be at the White House Wednesday.
‘I’m hopeful we can get this off the ground,’ Harris said. ‘But, again, it’s going to involve all hands on deck in the Republican conference in the House.’
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., another House Freedom Caucus member who normally opposes continuing resolutions, suggested he may be open to supporting this latest bid.
Norman, who will be at the White House Wednesday, was hopeful Trump’s push to cut government waste represented a new chapter that could allow for Republicans opposed to a continuing resolution to feel comfortable crossing that line.
‘I will be part of the group, and we’ll be talking with the president,’ Norman said. ‘It’s real important to keep his momentum going. It’s a new day with the DOGE cuts. (Continuing resolutions) a lot of us don’t like. We haven’t voted for them in the past. Today is different, and I think we’ll pass the vote.
‘If we have to get Democrats, that’s not a good sign. And I don’t think we have to, nor should we. And there’s no one better to sell a program or a point of view than Donald Trump.’
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, declined to say if he would attend the meeting but said he was supportive of Trump’s stance on a continuing resolution.
Roy, the House Freedom Caucus policy chair, has become a de facto liaison between Republican leaders and the most hawkish members of the House GOP Conference.
‘I have publicly said that I’m happy to support the president’s request to have a (continuing resolution) the next six months, provided that it’s clean, provided that it is at current levels or below,’ Roy said. ‘I’m not going to talk about private meetings and what I’ve been invited to, but let’s say I’m in close contact with the White House.’