Democrats warming up to Mike Johnson’s plan to keep government open: 'It could be worse'

With time running out before a potential government shutdown, some House Democrats appear to be lining up in support of House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-Louisiana) unorthodox plan to keep federal agencies funded.

Earlier this week, Johnson proposed a "laddered" continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded at current levels, this time with two separate funding deadlines. Should Johnson's plan pass, four of twelve federal appropriations bills would expire on January 19, and the remaining eight bills would expire on February 2. According to Politico, Johnson will need Democrats' votes when the bill comes to the floor later today in order to advance his proposal to the US Senate.

"It’s hard to say, ‘I can’t vote for this because of process,’” a senior Democratic source told Politico. "It could be worse. It doesn’t have poison-pill policy riders, and it does fund the government."

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Speaker Johnson's first major legislative package hit a significant obstacle on Tuesday, when the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus issued a statement in opposition to it. That statement came on the heels of far-right members of the House Republican Conference — like Reps. Bob Good (R-Virginia), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) and George Santos (R-New York) announcing their intent to vote no to the new speaker's government funding proposal.

Because Johnson is putting the laddered CR on the floor under what's called a "suspension of the rules," it will require a two-thirds majority to pass, or 290 total votes. To compare, Republicans' majority in the House of Representatives stands at just 221, meaning Johnson will need a significant number of House Democrats to back his plan. And former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) was forced out of his position in October after working with Democrats to meet a government funding deadline.

Despite some of his Republican colleagues' perception of bipartisan entreaties as toxic, Johnson still appears to have more political capital to spend. When CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju asked Rep. Eli Crane (R-Arizona) — one of the eight Republicans to vote for the motion to vacate McCarthy — about whether it was fair to make comparisons between Johnson and his predecessor, Crane said "at least [Johnson] doesn't lie to us."

READ MORE: GOP blasts Mike Johnson's 'status quo' spending plan with days left until shutdown