Vice President JD Vance told House Republicans that putting a government funding bill up for a vote today was critical to President Donald Trump keeping the lights on for his border security goals and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Two lawmakers present at the closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning said DOGE and the border were part of Vance’s pitch to Republicans who were still undecided about the bill.
One lawmaker said Vance also signaled that future federal spending cuts could be on the table at a later date, a similar pitch House Freedom Caucus leaders have been making to fellow fiscal conservatives.
“Vance basically said this is what we need to keep DOGE and border operations going,” the lawmaker said. “And we will have much more flexibility for DOGE cuts once we’ve had more time to identify and quantify them.”
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The House and Senate must pass a federal funding bill and send it to Trump’s desk by the end of Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.
Trump has endorsed a House Republican-led measure, a rough extension of fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), that will keep government spending largely flat for FY 2025, until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1 – something House GOP leaders claim as a victory.
“Pass the bill,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who declined to elaborate further on the meeting.
House Republicans are largely expected to shoulder the burden of passing the bill themselves, despite Democrats historically voting in droves to avoid government shutdowns.
But House Democratic leaders have accused Republicans of trying to use the legislation to allow Elon Musk and Trump to continue upending the federal bureaucracy – a point that’s not dissimilar to what conservatives support about the bill.
A senior source involved in negotiations on the CR told Fox News Digital they were optimistic about where it was going.
“There were people who would say ‘I don’t like CRs, but I trust the administration, so I think I can move forward on this one,'” the source said of House Republicans’ conference meeting.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a fiscal hawk who’s generally opposed to CRs, said as much in a brief back-and-forth with Fox News on Tuesday morning, after announcing he would “barely” support the bill.
“The ‘barely’ is Donald Trump,” Burlison said. “He is the difference maker. I would never support this language, but I do trust Donald Trump.”
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The vote is expected to take place late Tuesday afternoon.
Trump and his allies spent Monday calling potential holdouts and are expected to be doing so again on Tuesday.
At least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is staunchly opposed to the bill.
In a sign of confidence, House GOP leaders announced they would send lawmakers back to their districts early, canceling a planned day of votes on Wednesday.
Fox News Digital reached out to Vance’s office for comment but did not hear back.
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