Shutdown-averting spending bill at top of 'to do' list as House comes back into session

The House will be back in session Monday, and Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping that a shutdown-averting spending bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk before lawmakers go back home. 

The item is the only must-pass legislation on the Capitol Hill agenda until later this year, Politico reported. 

The thin Republican majority has had difficulty opening the House floor for debate on many legislative priorities, and Republicans are eager to get back home ahead of the November midterms rather than deal with more problems in Washington. 

The government funding bill would postpone a possible shutdown from midnight Sept. 30 to Dec. 11, and it would extend the deadline to reauthorize lapsing surface transportation authorities. Republicans plan to get the bill to the floor Tuesday under a fast-track method requiring a two-thirds majority vote. 

The measure enjoys bipartisan support, which is expected to overcome Republican concerns about a provision to delay the start of an intoxicating help product ban, something the Senate inserted and the White House supports. 

The bill's bipartisan support is also likely to overcome GOP concerns about a Democrat-supported provision to temporarily hold up a Trump administration proposal to put political appointees in charge of federal grant proposals. 

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., told reporters earlier this month that he believes Congress can avoid any kind of shutdown, which is important ahead of the midterms. 

Members and aides speculate that House leaders will head home sooner than the currently scheduled Oct. 1 exit date. 

“So many people are having to run back and forth to campaign. I think we can get some other things done [beyond the spending stopgap], but the big bills will probably have to wait until after the election," Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., told reporters Thursday.