Lawmakers brace for brutal new government spending fight on heels of last shutdown battle

Spending hawks in Congress are growing antsy about starting discussions on how to fund the government in fiscal year 2025.

Congress only recently completed the appropriations process for fiscal year 2024, roughly six months after it began Sept. 30. And, in that time, disagreements over federal funding prompted conservative lawmakers to tank their own party’s bills in protest of leadership’s decisions. 

Spending disagreements also led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker and led to a motion to vacate being filed against Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Friday.

A significant share of Republicans also broke from their own party to oppose nearly every bipartisan spending agreement crafted between the House GOP majority and Senate Democrats, demonstrating the party’s deep fiscal fractures.

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Spending hawks are cautiously watching congressional leaders to see how they’ll handle the next fiscal year’s funding talks. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“Am I confident? No,” one GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital when asked if the appropriations process will improve for fiscal year 2025. “I hope it does. But, I mean, there’s been no indication for the last 30 years, 25 years, that it’s going to [improve].”

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a former House Freedom Caucus chairman who opposed each of the bipartisan spending deals, suggested he’s concerned his faction of the House GOP will be disappointed again in the next round.

“Yes, of course we’re behind,” Perry said. “We’re halfway into the year.”

On the Senate side, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led a letter to GOP Conference Chair Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., requesting an urgent meeting on the spending process.

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Former House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry said Congress is already behind. (Getty Images)

“As we rush to finalize the 2024 FY budget — months after the fiscal year has started — we are already behind on the 2025 budget deadlines set in statute. Reform is needed, and it is vital that we as a Conference debate how to get our budget process on track,” Marshall wrote.

Both House Republicans and the White House initiated their sides of the process by submitting budget proposals, each predictably panning the other’s plans. 

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Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., whose large House GOP group unveiled its own budget proposal, called for a House vote on each of the plans, though he did not say if he was concerned about the current pace.

“Go ahead and get it done. Get the vote done and see where it lies and where the outcome is. And then let’s get the budget done and get the appropriators working on the FY25 budget,” Hern said.

Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern released his group’s budget proposal this week. (Getty Images)

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However, another GOP lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed optimism colleagues learned from prior mistakes.

“We’re a little bit behind from a schedule, like a calendar perspective, from where we want to be,” the GOP lawmaker said. “We have a real clarity of mind right now of what went wrong, and so, you know, in some respects, the best way to stay on task. We just got done with appropriations, so now we know exactly what we need to do the next time.”