The Senate's stopgap funding bill is less than 24 hours old. Some Republican senators already want changes.

The Senate’s stopgap funding bill is less than 24 hours old. Some Republican senators already want changes.

Sep 27, 2023

Fewer than 24 hours after the Senate released its stopgap funding bill, some Senate Republicans are calling for changes to ease its path in the GOP House.

The bill has been ruled a nonstarter by House Republicans, in part because it lacks border enforcement language and includes more funding for Ukraine.

It’s unclear how the Senate GOP will try and come up with something more digestible for Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But the initial funding foray may go through some changes before passing the upper chamber.

“I don’t think [this] CR is the one we’re going to vote on. … There’s border issues that we could attach to that will make people a lot more comfortable,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the No. 5 GOP leader, said. “I think there will be changes.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s expanded leadership team, was even more blunt in a press release, declaring he would not vote for the bill as written because McCarthy won’t put it up for a vote in the House. Tillis said the bill “guarantees a shutdown” and doesn’t include enough GOP priorities, though it does include more $1 billion in new funding for ICE and customs at the border.

Later, Tillis said in an interview he simply wants a “clear indication that what we’re doing over here is helpful for McCarthy.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said Monday he will ask to strip out Ukraine funding, not because he opposes it, but because it’s currently a red line for McCarthy.

Democrats control the Senate, though, and the current CR with its $6 billion each for Ukraine and disaster funding reflects their priorities as well as McConnell’s. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will have plenty of sway over the final product, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) warned that trying to attach something like the House’s border policy bill won’t go anywhere in the Senate: “No. We’ve got our version.”

Of course, not all Democrats see it exactly the same way.

“Border security, fiscal responsibility, I’m 1,000 percent supportive,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “There’s no reason for any delay in having border security. Shut that border down.”

So what happens next? If, and it’s a really big if at this point, both chambers can pass the same bill and avert a shutdown, it’s probably going to look a bit different than what’s been proposed in either the House or Senate at this point.

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