Longtime spending leader Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ala.) suggested House lawmakers could try to force the Senate to accept their version of the second patch. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images House GOP leaders vow no deals with Democrats on stopgap spending

House Republican leaders have promised conservatives that they won't grant concessions to Democrats to get enough votes for a stopgap spending bill — gaining GOP support but also raising the specter of a government shutdown later this month.

GOP leaders in the House tentatively decided Tuesday morning to hold tight on their plan to fund the government through Dec. 22, bucking calls from conservatives to move the deadline to Dec. 30.


Still whipping to ensure sufficient GOP support, leaders pushed off a Rules Committee meeting and final floor action by a day, with House passage on the two-week patch now expected Thursday. Government funding runs out on Friday.

Those intraparty talks will drag into Wednesday, after a huddle on Tuesday afternoon among House Speaker Paul Ryan, conservative holdouts and defense hawks ended without a resolution. A final decision isn’t expected until Wednesday morning, after another last-minute meeting by the House Freedom Caucus.

The problem with the House strategy is that Senate Republicans still need the votes of at least eight Senate Democrats to advance spending legislation, likely resulting in deal-making later this month that won’t fly with fiscal conservatives in the House.

Enough Senate Democratic votes appear possible for a "clean" stopgap spending bill, or continuing resolution, that would extend from Friday until Dec. 22. Both parties hope to have reached a bipartisan, two-year agreement on overall spending levels for defense and non-defense programs by later in the month.

“We don’t know what the House is going to do, but if it’s a short-term CR, it gives us a little more time to do the things we’re talking about now,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday afternoon, noting that top congressional leaders plan to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday to work on topline budget caps.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also indicated that Republicans in the upper chamber are gunning for a two-week stopgap rather than a deal until Dec. 30, which he said isn’t “the best way to go forward.”

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But the trouble could come with the vote on a second stopgap just before the Christmas holiday, when Democrats would be expected to make more demands, such as an agreement on how to treat so-called Dreamers, or young undocumented immigrants. If GOP leaders in the lower chamber stay true to their promises to the likes of the House Freedom Caucus, the game plan could result in shutdown-spurring deadlock right before lawmakers plan to leave town for the holidays.

The scheduling changes in the House came after members of the Freedom Caucus temporarily withheld support on a tax vote Monday night to get leaders to opt for a Dec. 30 deadline.

But for now, fiscal hard-liners seem appeased by other commitments they clinched after making that demand.

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, said leaders “made some great assurances” during a Tuesday morning Republican Conference meeting that “the team stays together” on issues that could emerge.

“And that means you don’t go to the Democrats like usual at Christmastime or right after,” Brat told reporters.

Longtime spending leader Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) suggested House lawmakers could try to force the Senate to accept their version of the second patch.

“If we pass a bill on or about the 22nd and go home, then the Senate will need to make up its mind about what to do about that,” Rogers said. “The option is either: Pass or have a shutdown in place.”

Ryan expressed confidence that the initial funding measure will pass this week but didn’t address prospects for a deal beyond Dec. 22.

“I feel like we’re going to have a majority, and we’re going to have 218 for passing the CR we had this week,” Ryan told reporters Tuesday morning. “We’re having a good conversation with our members about timing and date and tactics and all the rest. The point is, we’re having the kind of family discussion that we need to have on how to proceed forward with a majority, and I’m confident we’ll have that.”

In punting the drama to the week before Christmas, GOP lawmakers may try to jam Democrats with big boosts to defense spending.

An unlikely mix of conservatives and defense hawks is still eyeing a plan to attach a full year of Pentagon funding to the Dec. 22 bill — a move that would cause a showdown in the Senate.

Democrats in that chamber have refused to back a bill that prioritizes the military over spending on domestic programs. And Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) dug in on that threat Tuesday.

Some conservatives in the House are betting that pressure to fund the Pentagon would be just enough to persuade a handful of red-state Democrats to vote in support of a second government funding bill later this month.

If the military funding isn’t enough, House Republicans are tossing around another bargaining chip: a disaster aid package. That bill would include tens of billions of dollars for storm-ravaged Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, making it tougher for Democrats to oppose.

Another must-pass item, funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, could also be added to the bill, lawmakers said.

“Is the Senate going to turn around, Christmas or New Year’s, and say we’re not going to take care of the defense of America, we’re not going to take care of these people with these hurricanes?” Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) said. “If they are, then it’s on them.”

Connor O'Brien contributed to this report.