Arizona Republican says shutdown-ending bill will pass House soon ‘if everything goes well’

PHOENIX – The U.S. House will send a government shutdown-ending bill to President Donald Trump’s desk by Wednesday night “if everything goes well,” Arizona U.S. Rep. David Schweikert said Tuesday morning.

“We’ll all be getting on airplanes today, which is going to be a lot of fun. I was thinking of giving ginormous hugs to the TSA agents,” Schweikert, a Republican, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

On Monday night, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the government until late January after five moderate Democrats switched their positions to reach the required 60-vote threshold. Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego were among the majority of Democrats who continued their opposition.

The minority party had been holding out in hopes of forcing Republicans to extend subsidies for health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. But the pressures of a federal food aid suspension, air travel disruptions and hundreds of thousands of federal workers going unpaid tipped the scales.

Senate Republicans reportedly promised to hold a vote on the health care tax credits by mid-December.

Could anything keep House from passing shutdown-ending bill?

House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to return to Washington immediately so they could end the government shutdown, which started Oct. 1 and is the longest in U.S. history.

Schweikert, who is running for Arizona governor next year after eight terms in Congress, said that unlike in the Senate, House rules don’t leave much room for delay tactics. However, nothing is guaranteed, he added.

“There’s some procedural things, even today, that a member of the U.S. Senate could throw out and then force a couple days of debate, and we’re hoping they don’t do that,” he said. “We’re basically banking that they’re tired of standing up and talking in circles. So, we’re all banking on that we’re going to vote on this Wednesday evening, run it over to the White House, the president will sign it, and we’re back open.”

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