Speaker Paul Ryan and House GOP leaders hope attaching additional money for the Pentagon to a continuing resolution will placate GOP defense hawks. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo House GOP scrambles to avoid shutdown Republican leaders face a restive rank and file ahead of the latest government funding deadline.

With government funding running out Thursday night and bipartisan deals on budget caps and immigration still out of reach, House GOP leaders will meet with their members Monday night to decide how to avoid another federal shutdown. A vote to fund the government could come as soon as Tuesday.

Speaker Paul Ryan and House GOP leaders will attach a full year of Pentagon funding to a spending bill that keeps other federal agencies open until March 23. Billions of dollars will be added for community health centers a well, Republicans said.


House GOP leaders believe the package will placate GOP defense hawks, who are upset that there has not been a big increase in Pentagon spending, as they had hoped when President Donald Trump was elected. Without that extra funding, defense hawks have resisted another short-term bill. This one, Congress' fifth since September, would last through late March, according to multiple GOP sources.

The Senate almost certainly cannot pass this package due to Democratic opposition, and will remove the defense funding before sending it back to the House. Ryan will then face a challenge on whether he can move that bill through the chamber. Yet on Monday night, that wasn't on the House GOP radar screen. All they were worried about was Tuesday's vote.

“Trying to get the CR though, with the defense [funding], is what the goal is," said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee who is running for chairman next year. "This is what I think most members wanted to see. "

Republican leaders complain that the only reason they have to keep enacting short-term bills is because Democrats refuse to go along with a longer-term package unless there is a deal on the Dreamers.

“The only reason we need yet another CR is because Democrats continue to hold a budget agreement hostage over an unrelated issue," said AshLee Strong, Ryan's spokeswoman. "Our men and women in uniform aren’t bargaining chips, and there’s no reason for Senate Democrats to keep holding our military hostage for their political ploy.”

House Democrats — who want an equal increase in defense and non defense spending — will not support such a move on the stopgap.

Democrats also note that Trump unilaterally ended the DACA program — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — potentially exposing 700,000 young undocumented immigrants to deportation. Democrats blamed Trump for precipitated the crisis, not them.

Without Democratic support, Ryan and Republicans would have to pass a short-term funding bill on their own — with the Senate likely to strip the extra defense money later. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Monday afternoon that that sending a bill with a Pentagon budget boost "would be barreling head-first into a dead-end." Forty-four Senate Democrats have already rejected the idea, more than enough to block the bill.

The community health centers program, which enjoys wide bipartisan support, is running on fumes after Congress allowed a large chunk of its funding to expire in September.

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Last Friday, a group of 105 Republicans — roughly half the GOP Conference — wrote to Ryan urging him to include the $3.6 billion reauthorization as part of this week’s funding bill.

A package of bipartisan Medicare provisions, known as health extenders, could also be added, the senior GOP aide said.

House leaders are feeling extra pressure with a short work week. House Democrats are set to hold their annual retreat on Maryland’s Eastern Shore starting on Wednesday, where former Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to address the lawmakers .

“We’re still trying to figure it all out,” said a senior House Republican. “There may be some more clarity tonight.”

Immigration talks over the fate of 700,000 Dreamers by the “Twos Group” — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California , Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas , Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland — have yielded little progress. While Trump has unveiled his own immigration principles for any Dreamers deal, Senate Democrats favor a bipartisan plan reached by Durbin and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The White House and GOP congressional leaders do not support the Graham-Durbin proposal, and instead insist that any agreement over Dreamers must come from the bicameral leadership negotiations.

In order to end a three-day government shutdown last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised that he will allow debate on Dreamers legislation , but there is no commitment that the White House or House would back any bill that might pass the Senate. A bipartisan group of senators is also continuing to meet on immigration, though GOP leaders are also skeptical that will produce a result that can become law.

Congress has until March 5 to save the DACA program under Trump’s deadline, although a legal fight over Trump’s move has made that deadline less firm.

A deal to increase stiff budget caps is far more likely, as both sides are ready to increase federal spending by tens of billions of dollars. Staff level talks on a budget package are ongoing, although the issue has become closely linked to the resolution of the Dreamers’ plight.

One scenario being discussed in leadership circles on both sides of Capitol Hill is to detach immigration and budget negotiations. Th at would allow a “global deal” that covers government spending, disaster aid and the debt ceiling, all of which Trump and Congress have to deal with in coming weeks.

Under this scenario, Congress would pass a stopgap this week to fund the government through late next month , possibly March 22 or March 23. The Senate would then proceed with debate over the Dreamers’ issue, while lawmakers finalize a deal on boosting budget caps for two years. An omnibus appropriations measure would then be drafted that funds federal agencies through Sept. 30. The package would include disaster aid for Florida, Texas, California, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands estimated at $81 billion — and possibly far more once the Senate finishes with it — as well as an increase in the debt ceiling.

All these legislative items would be voted on next month, whether or not the immigration issue is resolved. The Trump administration also would have to forgo immediate action against the Dreamers under this scenario, allowing the issue to play out in the federal court system or with DACA somehow extended another year.

Senate Democrats believe that the Senate could pass both a budget caps deal and a Dreamer package. Ryan would then have to juggle both as he tries to get them through the House while avoiding a challenge to his leadership.

But Republicans say that such an approach is unrealistic, as it would allow Democrats to "hold the government hostage of the fate of the DACA program.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that Congress needs to raise the debt limit sometime this month; the Congressional Budget Office predicts the deadline will “most likely” fall in the first two weeks of March.

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters Monday that Trump is committed to a two-year budget deal that offers certainty to federal agencies and the military.

“Moving from stopgap measure to stopgap measure is no way to govern,” Shah said. “We’re disappointed in Congress that we’re potentially facing something like that.”

But the White House is already preparing for a weeks long funding extension. The Trump administration has sent Congress a list of agencies’ requested short-term fixes in the next spending bill, known as “anomalies.” That includes a $225 million emergency increase in disaster loans and $90 million to help the IRS with the tax law rollout.

The Pentagon is also seeking tens of millions more for shipbuilding programs as well as authority to start new programs and ramp up existing ones. That package, if included in this week’s spending bill, could help win backing from other reluctant Armed Services Committee members.