WASHINGTON — Rising GOP pushback against a short-term stopgap funding bill into December that would pave the way for a lame-duck omnibus package is at minimum a political headache for party leaders, and at worst points to market-rattling brinkmanship around fiscal deadlines next year.
A small group of Senate Republicans and larger number of conservatives in the House backed by former President Donald Trump are opposing the general plan to run a continuing resolution to mid-December. Their general view is that the House at least will change hands, with the Senate a possibility as well, and final decisions on fiscal 2023 spending should wait until early next year when the new majority is seated.
The House Freedom Caucus and broader Republican Study Committee have already issued missives opposing a short-term spending bill or omnibus deal. As RSC Chairman Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, put it in a memo last week: “Voters will have fired Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi, but she will still decide all government funding for” fiscal 2023.
