House Republican leaders are eyeing a plan to fund the government that would lump the planned 12 appropriations bills into two or three separate packages, Fox News Digital has learned, apparently backing away from an earlier vow to hold floor votes on each of the bills individually.
It was a vow made by ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., when Republicans took control of the House after the 2022 elections and has been upheld by House GOP leadership through as recently as November.
The right had criticized the previous Democrat-led Congress for funding the government via a single massive “omnibus” bill, which they argued leads to more federal spending and gives less of a voice to rank-and-file members than voting on 12 separate bills would. Large, combined spending bills also tend to be magnets for spending and other priorities of individual members since the measures can more easily be hidden away.
But with the clock ticking until the first of two partial government shutdown deadlines next week, sources told Fox News Digital that GOP leaders are now considering turning the 12 individual bills into a series of “minibus” spending packages – smaller than the omnibus but still stitching together spending bills. They are only “mini” in relation to the “omni.”
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House Republican, confirmed to Fox News Digital that passing minibuses is “on the table” and blamed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for not working with the House on its individual spending bills.
“Due to the Schumer Senate’s inability to pass individual appropriations bills and the tight timeline we’re working with, all options are on the table including minibus appropriations bills,” Emmer said. “Thanks to Speaker Johnson’s leadership, the days of massive omnibus bills are behind us.”
Current government funding expires on two deadlines, with some agencies and offices running out of money on March 1 while others end March 8. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., came up with the idea to separate the deadlines in order to avoid a single “omnibus” spending bill.