Republicans eye fresh funding fight as shutdown standoff drags on

With the stalemate over federal funding showing no clear signs of easing certain House and Senate Republicans are beginning to reckon with the possibility of running out of time before the next executive shutdown deadline Senate Democrats have now rejected the GOP s bill a short-term measure to keep the ruling body funded through Nov called a continuing resolution CR eight times and are expected to sink it again Wednesday afternoon CRs are traditionally used to give congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal on ruling body spending Yet the bill Republicans hoped would originally give them seven more weeks past the end of fiscal year FY on Sept has dwindled down to just over five assuming Democrats change their tune this week Both House and Senate Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital have acknowledged that it s at least feasible the Nov date will need to be modified JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS REGIME SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK That s an key question that we re all discussing Rep Tom McClintock R-Calif who has served in Congress since notified Fox News Digital It may well be that we ll need to extend that deadline further in order to make up for the time we ve lost during the shutdown However McClintock stated he was more in favor of a new CR after the current measure expires rather than starting from scratch on a new bill The Nov CR passed in the House largely along party lines on Sept and most of House Republicans have been united in now putting the onus on the Senate I think we need to pass the CR that s in the Senate and then assess if we need additional time he stated Rep David Valadao R-Calif a senior member of the committee tasked with spearheading federal funding talks also acknowledged that more time could be needed He blamed Senate Democrats for stalling the GOP bill and noted the House had already passed individual appropriations bills out of his committee SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNING BODY SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES We felt like we were in a really good spot and were coming to a lot of agreement he disclosed of the House Appropriations Committee s work And I feel like this set us back quite dramatically Meanwhile another House Republican familiar with the appropriations process notified Fox News Digital they d heard of preliminary discussions about combining three bills that have passed both the House and Senate floor dealing with military construction and veterans affairs the legislative branch and agriculture as a combined minibus alongside an additional -day CR The House and Senate have already voted to set up a conference committee on those three bills a formal working group of sorts aimed at giving lawmakers room to make a compromise Speaker Mike Johnson R-La acknowledged discussions about the date during a media call with the Republican Examination Committee last week I mean the longer Democrats delay this the closer we get to that seven-week added deadline to Nov and it makes it very challenging to complete the process with regard to the regular order on appropriations Johnson recounted Fox News Digital So there is selected discussion he declared There's a lot of angst about that We haven't made final determinations yet because it's first things first and we're taking it day by day But I'll tell you of class obviously the leadership has to keep a close eye on these things A new CR could be a potentially bruising political fight for the House and Senate considering Republicans historic aversion to short-term federal funding extensions And while Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D and Senate Republicans remain largely adamant that the House s bill is the one they want to use Thune didn t shut down the idea of changing the date We keep losing time on the clock which could be used to do the normal appropriations process he reported So you know I mean I think that that's a point of discussion and certainly something I've expressed an opening about Sen Markwayne Mullin R-Okla who has been one of a handful of Senate Republicans meeting with Senate Democrats throughout the shutdown advised Fox News Digital that the longer the shutdown goes on It becomes less realistic that we can have a funding bill We'll have to open the cabinet back up and then I can see a real possibility of us having to extend that date he reported Others in the Senate GOP appeared more rigid in their thinking however and needed to stick with the original plan I don't think a new deadline is going to help Sen John Kennedy R-La narrated Fox News Digital This is up to the Democrats We've appealed for no conditions it s a clean CR Their demands are not serious Until they back off their unserious demands we're going to stay shut down And Sen James Lankford R-Okla argued that Republicans should just keep going with the same bill and warned that changes could further delay reopening the cabinet Whatever we do we still gotta go back renegotiate with the House he announced If you start changing dates we gotta have a new document start all over again it gets delayed again Rep Stephanie Bice R-Okla another House Appropriations Committee member similarly pushed for the Nov deadline to remain in place I really think we should stick with Nov I would remind folks that we genuinely on the House side have passed all appropriations bills Bice noted I don t think that extending the date right now is the best The focus right now has to be on reopening the governing body We can t do anything until that happens