House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said behind closed doors this week that he is waiting on President Donald Trump to give the House GOP caucus marching orders on how to proceed with spending bills, Politico reported on Tuesday.
"In particular, appropriators are waiting on 'anomaly' requests from President Donald Trump’s budget aides, Johnson said, according to three people in the room who were granted anonymity to describe the private remarks," said the report. "Anomaly" requests refer to anything that would be changed from last year's spending levels and "that would need to be embedded in a stopgap measure to address current spending needs."
Johnson was speaking to House Republicans in he private meeting, three weeks before the government is set to shut down if a budget is not approved.
As all of this is unfolding, the report continued, "Democrats and GOP appropriators are eyeing November or December, buying time for further negotiations on fiscal 2026 funding and other matters, while conservative hard-liners and some in the White House want an extension into next year — in part, to avoid what they believe could be an unsavory bipartisan deal with Democrats."
Johnson added in discussions that he would rather pass full-year bills, but is prepared to move for a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown.
The prospect of a shutdown comes amid a flurry of speculation that Republicans will not have the votes to pass such measures on their own, and that Democrats may seek demands of their own in return for their votes.
According to some sources, Democrats are weighing a demand to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies as their condition for providing the votes to keep the government open.