No sign of ‘debt limit 2.0’ talks as shutdown looms – JP

“The issue back then was that, as a member of the House, you didn’t want to pass anything because you didn’t want to be accused of funding Obamacare,” Cantor said.

Yarmuth adds that the wave of “tea party” Republicans who swept into Congress in 2011 “were itching for a shutdown, they really wanted it. It was part of their mission, I think, to show that they were going to throw their weight around.”

The former Kentucky lawmaker, who retired after the 117th Congress, does not see that dynamic at work now. But he said with the slim majority that Republicans hold, even a small number could deny leadership the majority needed to pass a funding bill. The GOP can lose no more than four votes and still pass legislation without any support from Democrats.

Cantor said unlike the defining issue of defunding the health care law in 2013, House Republicans have not united behind a single driving message as to what they want in exchange for supporting a temporary funding measure before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Chip Roy, R-Texas, and some other members of the House Freedom Caucus want stronger border security measures enacted before they will vote for a stopgap bill. Others want to cut funding below the levels agreed to in the debt limit agreement, while some want to deny the Justice Department funding that would be used to prosecute former President Donald Trump in connection with his challenge of the 2020 election results.