Schumer, Jeffries both suggest Dems open to House GOP's continuing resolution

House Speaker Mike Johnson's "laddered" spending bill appears to have piqued the interest of Democratic leaders in the House and Senate as Congress aims to avert a government shutdown ahead of the Friday deadline.

Johnson on Saturday unveiled a two-step continuing resolution, splitting the multiple appropriations bills to fund the government between Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 deadlines.

The plan largely excludes the contentious funding cuts that Republicans hope to advance for the full 2024 budget, a point that appears to have attracted some Democratic openness.

"For now, I am pleased that Speaker Johnson seems to be moving in our direction by advancing a CR that doesn’t include the highly partisan cuts that Democrats have warned against," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday, The Hill reported. "The Speaker’s proposal is far from perfect, but the most important thing is that it refrains from making steep cuts."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, on Monday informed his conference that their leadership was mulling whether to back Johnson's plan, marking a pivotal shift in position from his past condemnation of a "laddered" spending bill.

"At this time, we are carefully evaluating the proposal set forth by Republican leadership and discussing it with Members," he wrote to House Democrats in a letter The Hill obtained.

Support from Democrats in the lower chamber would likely enable easy passage of the bill as they could bring the numbers to overcome opposition from any dissatisfied Republicans. Democrats make up the majority in the upper chamber.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.