House GOP divided on short-term funding as Congress barrels toward government shutdown deadline

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House Republicans are divided over whether to support a short-term government funding extension as Congress hurdles toward the first of two shutdown deadlines next week.

"[Jan. 19] is not a rational goal. We need to do something by the 18th," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters Wednesday.

He agreed with earlier comments by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who suggested a deadline sometime in March for such an extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR).

"There's going to have to be some kind of short-term, I probably lean more toward the kind of Thune orthodoxy that we're going to need to move it into March sometime, to give us adequate time. But you know, look, we knew this was coming," Womack said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., suggested Wednesday that Republicans should use a government shutdown as leverage to get GOP policy goals passed.

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"A shutdown is something that you have to be willing to risk, especially for the things that are on the line," Mast said. "If we're not working to extract the security of our nation and willing to shut the government down and for a period of time in order to secure our nation in part, then I don't think we're having the right fight."

Tensions