House Speaker Mike Johnson's Two-Step Funding Plan Faces Opposition, Raising Shutdown Risk

The unusual proposal, which omits funding for Ukraine and Israel, has been rejected by both the Senate and the White House, increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed a two-step funding plan to avert a government shutdown, which would extend funding for some federal agencies until late January and for others through early February.
The proposal omits funding for Ukraine and Israel, which Johnson frames as a strategy to strengthen Republicans' bargaining position in negotiations with the Senate and the White House on an emergency national security spending bill.
The plan has been met with opposition from both the Senate and the White House, as well as from some House Republicans who demand deep spending cuts or oppose stopgap funding measures.
The proposal is set to be voted on as early as Tuesday, just days before the Friday midnight deadline for keeping the government funded.
The credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service has lowered its outlook on the U.S. government's debt to 'negative' from 'stable', citing the cost of rising interest rates and political polarization in Congress, adding to the concerns about a potential shutdown.