Paul Ryan Reveals The House GOP Plan To Avoid A Government Shutdown

FILE - House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., goes before the House Rules Committee for final work on his budget to fund the government in fiscal year 2015, at the Capitol in Washington, in this April 7, ... FILE - House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., goes before the House Rules Committee for final work on his budget to fund the government in fiscal year 2015, at the Capitol in Washington, in this April 7, 2014 file photo. The plan being considered Thursday April 10, 2014 is a nonbinding framework aimed more at engaging GOP voters than rival Democrats. The budget plan from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., revives a now-familiar list of spending cuts to promise balance, including $2.1 trillion over 10 years in health care subsidies and coverage under the Affordable Care Act; $732 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other health care programs; and almost $1 trillion in cuts to other benefit programs like food stamps, Pell Grants and farm subsidies. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) MORE LESS
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Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says the Republican-led House intends to avoid a government shutdown this fall by passing a “clean” funding bill and approving a short-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.

“We will pass a clean [continuing resolution], and if for some reason the Democrats don’t take that, then they will clearly have shut the government down,” the House budget chief told Roll Call, saying the stopgap bill will probably last through Dec. 11.

Ryan also said to expect the House to pass a short-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, even though lots of conservatives want to shut it down. Ryan himself has slammed Ex-Im as “crony capitalism.”

If the House passes these two measures — and that’s hardly a given — it would all but take a government shutdown off the table through the midterm elections. Senate Democrats would have little justification for not adopting them in order to keep the government running. Despite some hunger for confrontation with President Barack Obama, Republican leaders are wary that a shutdown on Oct. 1 — so close to Election Day — could harm their prospects.

When Congress returns to Washington in September it will have just 10 working days before the fiscal year ends and federal funding expires.

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