Speaker Mike Johnson unveils plan to avert shutdown next week

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday night unveiled his plan to avert a partial government shutdown next week, telling Republicans on a conference call that the House would vote on four separate appropriations bills and may need a stopgap funding bill to buy lawmakers more time, according to two sources.

Despite Johnson’s strategy, lawmakers warned about the threat of a brief shutdown at the end of the week given Congress’s tight schedule. House members are not slated to return to Washington until Wednesday night and the Senate could face delays if rabble-rousers like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., try to block speedy passage of a funding measure.

“While we have been working nonstop on our bills, there are differences that cause some concern” about a possible shutdown, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, who serves as chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said Friday.

Four of the 12 appropriations bills — which would provide funding for agencies covered by Agriculture, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Energy-Water and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development — face the Friday deadline. The remaining eight appropriation bills, covering critical agencies like the Defense, State and Justice departments, face a March 8 deadline. It’s that first tranche of bills that the House will vote on next week.

Sources made clear that Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, does not want to pass another stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR.

But the CR is a "might need" for another week or two, one of the sources on the call said.

Earlier this week, members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus urged Johnson to back a year-long stopgap bill unless he can secure conservative policy