Washington Examiner: Shutdown frustrates GOP appropriations cardinals as standoff freezes funding process

This press release from Representative John R. Carter (R-TX) was published on 2025-10-17 and titled "Washington Examiner: Shutdown frustrates GOP appropriations cardinals as standoff freezes funding process". It focuses on healthcare and touches on taxes, the environment.

Washington Examiner: Shutdown frustrates GOP appropriations cardinals as standoff freezes funding process

House GOP appropriators are growing frustrated with the duration of the government shutdown, arguing they cannot do their jobs and will not bring the remaining full-year funding bills to the floor until the government reopens. All 12 appropriations cardinals told the Washington Examiner they are concerned about the time being lost as the shutdown carries on. Friday marks 17 days since the shutdown began, and the continuing resolution to reopen the government only punts the funding deadline to Nov. 21. With that date fast approaching, appropriators are aware they may need to negotiate a new deadline with their Senate Republican colleagues and Democratic counterparts that would allow the appropriators to move forward with their work. However, they said that particular duty rests with Senate Democrats, who have “wasted over two weeks” of negotiations by blocking the GOP’s CR a total of 10 times since the bill arrived in the upper chamber. “Every day that goes by, we waste lots of valuable time for finishing out our work as appropriators, whatever that may be: our individual bills or some sort of minibus, and even other options that are being talked about after the government shut down, if we get into any or requests that a lot of us are interested in doing,” Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) said. “But that’s all a separate conversation until we get the government open,” he continued. The House has passed three appropriations bills: Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, Energy and Water, and Defense. All 12 have passed out of the Appropriations Committee, but several were expected to face pushback from both parties prior to the shutdown and never made it to the floor for a vote before the Sept. 30 fiscal year deadline. Valadao, the Legislative Branch subcommittee’s cardinal, or chairman, said it was frustrating to head into a shutdown when he believed the committee was making “a lot of progress” with Senate Republicans and Democratic appropriators in both chambers, especially on his bill. He said now, everything is on pause because of the shutdown. Appropriators are stalled as Democrats hold up CR While the Senate is calling vote after vote on the GOP CR, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has kept thelower chamber on recess since it passed the spending deal on Sept. 19. Though some Republicans and all Democrats have called on Johnson to bring back the House and havediscussions on appropriations and other topics, the speaker has repeatedly stated that the House “did itsjob,” and he, too, is frustrated that the government is at a standstill. “People are upset. I’m upset. I’m a very patient man, but I am angry right now,” Johnson said last week during one of the many press conferences he has held since the start of the shutdown. House leadership has been adamant that there is no reason to bring the House back because they passed the clean CR, which would reopen negotiations on appropriations bills. With the shutdown still going on, leaders and appropriations cardinals are insistent that there’s nothing they can do but wait. “What would help appropriators are colleagues who recognize our fundamental duty to uphold our Article I responsibilities,” Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), cardinal of Homeland Security appropriations, said. “If they can’t see how damaging a shutdown is to the American people, we’re not going to get very far.” Johnson has been calling for Congress to return to an “old-school” funding process, where the House and Senate would go to conference on funding. In early October, he told Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, directly that he’d facilitate bipartisan negotiations on funding bills, but only once the government opens. Meanwhile, Democrats have been loath to accept any verbal agreements, instead using the CR fight to demand Republicans permanently extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. However, several cardinal snoted that extending the ACA tax credits is not the role of appropriations, so in their view, it doesn’t belong in this funding fight. Valadao and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), cardinal of Commerce appropriations, said prior to the shutdown, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins were getting along great with Murray and ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). Everyone had a seat at the table, he said, and things were moving in the right direction. “And the Democrats moved the goal post, and a clean CR wasn’t good enough for them anymore,” Valadao said. Republicans throw support behind CR as means to an end CRs rarely get full Republican support, especially from fiscal hawks who want to see less spending and more rooting out of “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal government. But only two Republicans voted against the CR, with a rare display of unity between the conservative Freedom Caucus and House GOP leadership. The caucus has said during the shutdown it is “100% behind” Johnson and has sup