Florida Representatives have a large say in what happens during impending government shutdown

The federal government will almost certainly shut down at the end of September. But Republicans close to budget negotiations hope it will last no more than a week.

A GOP source close to negotiations acknowledges the longer a shutdown lasts, the more likely it is that House Republicans will join House Democrats and pass all of President Joe Biden’s budget demands. Should that happen, Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s tenure leading the U.S. House could flame out early.

Negotiations are taking place as high-profile Republican lawmakers stake out positions on both sides of the debate. McCarthy has tapped U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Naples Republican, with carrying a budget deal hopefully to a vote. This weekend, leadership signaled it had growing support for a continuing resolution that would keep the government open for another 30 days.

But some members of the House Freedom Caucus, including U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, and Anna Paulina Luna, a St. Petersburg Republican, say they can’t support anything put forward by Donalds and other negotiators so far.

Gaetz wants the House to pass a measure that defunds a Department of Justice investigation of former President Donald Trump, and also wants to pull back foreign aid to Ukraine as it wars with Russia.

But above all, Gaetz said he dislikes the procedural maneuvers of bringing a single resolution forward when the House should consider all these matters in separate appropriations votes.

“This isn’t personal, but we have to realize that Kevin McCarthy put us behind the eight ball,” Gaetz told Newsmax. “We have had control of the House of Representatives for eight months, but we did not stay on schedule moving spending bills to advance our priorities and restrain the out-of-control actions of the (Joe) Biden regime.”

All sides acknowledge it’s virtually impossible to pass an agreement in the Republican-controlled House at this point before the end of September. But at this point, many Republicans aren’t concerned about whether a shutdown occurs but about how long it lasts — and who the public blames.

The Donalds resolution maintains funding for many issues both conservative hold dear, like funding the Department of Defense, and for broadly supported issues important to moderates, like replenishment of the federal Disaster Relief Fund.

Donalds told reporters the goal is to find a solution that all in the Republican House majority can support.

“I would challenge my colleague from Florida (Gaetz) to create a coalition that tries to actually get a victory for the American people,” Donalds told a press gaggle. “If he wants to have a personal thing with me going back and forth he’s entitled to, but I don’t care about that foolishness — I want to win.”

A source close to negotiations said House negotiators want to give political cover for Republican Representatives in deep red districts and battleground seats. If the Democrat-controlled Senate rejects such a resolution, House members can at least point to the upper chamber forcing a shutdown.

But concerns over the deal exploded Tuesday when the House rejected a defense budget on a narrow 214-212 vote, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in voting “no.” Of note, all Florida Republicans present for the vote supported the budget, including Gaetz. Luna is out on maternity leave after the birth of her first child, and was the only member of the state’s congressional delegation to miss the vote.

But notably, Luna said in a statement to the Daily Mail she will fly to Washington if necessary to vote against the deal supported by Republican leadership right now.

“The CR does nothing to turn off the weaponization of the DOJ! The CR does nothing to get rid of the woke policies at the DOJ!” she said in a statement posted on Twitter. “We were promised that the House would consider all 12 appropriations bills individually — we were told the days ahead of when the CRs and omnibuses were done.”

Donalds, a critic of the investigation of Trump, has publicly dismissed the notion Congress can simply defund Special Counsel Jack Smith.

“The DOJ will operate whether the government is shut down or not. Special Counsel’s have always exempted themselves from shutdowns,” he posted on X.

Negotiators believe those appropriations votes could still be held. If Representatives stayed in Washington through the weekend, the appropriations votes could be taken in about a week, though the Senate still would require time to scrutinize and vote on a deal. A 30-day resolution to keep the government funded, of course, would provide more than enough time.

But as a Sept. 30 deadline nears, Republicans worry how long an impending shutdown would last before moderate members bolt. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has held his caucus together in voting against all Republican plans to date. But the Democratic minority still has tools to further influence the process.

Jeffries potentially can bring a discharge petition forward. If a majority of all members support bringing an issue to the floor, such as a clean resolution granting all Biden’s funding requests including millions in aid to Ukraine, the Speaker’s office must allow it. That would require just a handful of Republicans to sign onto such a maneuver assuming all Democrats support such a step.

None of the House Republicans representing Florida are expected to support a discharge petition made by Democrats. But several GOP members in difficult districts in New York, Jeffries’ home state, and in California may bolt just to avoid blame for a shutdown. If a clean resolution passes in the House, it will likely cruise through the Senate.

But if Democrats advance a resolution in such a fashion, Republican sources say that will almost surely prompt a revolt. Gaetz has threatened to file a motion to vacate, essentially forcing a vote on whether to remove McCarthy as Speaker. That could happen immediately after a successful discharge vote.