Oklahoma Representatives On Continuing Resolution Possibilities

The pressure is again building on Congress to come together and agree on a way to keep the federal government operating beyond November 17, the date when funding is currently set to run out, and the path forward is still not clear.

There is general agreement among members in both chambers that they will need to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown, but there’s no agreement as to what that CR should look like. And some House Republicans say it certainly doesn’t help that their self-inflicted speaker crisis cost them nearly a full month.

"Four weeks is a lot of time when you’re running up against a deadline," said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK1).

Because there is relatively little time, Democrats and moderate Republicans like Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole are favoring a clean CR -- a simple extension of current funding into the new year with no strings attached -- to allow a little more time for actual appropriations bills to get done.

"Well, I think a clean CR is going to get the fewest Republican votes," Hern said in an interview Wednesday, "that's going to be a challenge."

Hern says he and more conservative Republicans are urging Speaker Mike Johnson to include one or more of their priorities with the stopgap funding measure to make clear this isn't just business as usual.

"It could be something like a debt commission, which the Democrats favor as well," Hern said.

"We’ve got to see something that shows that Congress isn’t just up here as actors on the stage talking about spending reduction and never doing it," added Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK2).

Congressman Brecheen is confident Johnson will find a way to get a conservative win out of the CR. He says he could be convinced to support it, if border security measures were attached to it or if the CR were extended long enough to trigger an across-the-board cut.

"If there is a CR that moves us to April, that gives us the opportunity to have a one percent cut," Brecheen said, "I’m interested in cuts."

Democrats say Republicans are clearly not interested in actually governing, because the only way forward on this is together.

"But we need responsible partners on the other side of the aisle," said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) at a news conference.