By Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes 

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump and GOP leaders enter their next big battle facing stubborn opposition in both parties that increases Republicans' worries that they will need more Democratic support than previously expected to avert a government shutdown by the end of April.

It is a sign of the new reality in Washington after Mr. Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan failed to persuade the House's most conservative Republicans, as well as centrists, to back a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. The failure derailed the GOP leadership and the new administration's top legislative priority and has put unexpected questions before both parties about their paths forward.

For Republicans leaders, the main challenge is the House Freedom Caucus, an alliance of the most conservative Republicans who successfully defied the White House to sink the health bill.

For Democrats, unified opposition to the bill helped give the party a surprising legislative win and deprived Mr. Trump of an early victory. Their success in sticking together has left the party less incentive to compromise with Republicans, who will likely need them to supply votes for the fiscal measures, as they often did under Mr. Ryan's predecessor, Speaker John Boehner.

The most immediate test comes at the end of April, when the government's current funding expires. Lawmakers have only 12 legislative workdays before April 28, the date by which they will need to pass a new spending bill or trigger a partial government shutdown. More distantly, Congress must approve an increase in the nation's debt limit, likely by this fall, and then fund the government for fiscal 2018, which begins in October.

Some Republicans say they are worried about the prospect of repeating the experience of 2013, when the party drew most of the blame for a partial shutdown related to a fight over the health law.

Asked if chances of a government shutdown were rising, Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.) said, "If we don't get focused on it, there's always a risk."

"The government can't shut down," he said. "If you have a Republican Congress shutting down a Republican government, that's just about as politically stupid as it gets."

"Shutting down the government when you are a Republican Congress and a Democrat is in the White House was one thing. You could chalk that up to a disagreement between the parties," Rep. Tom Rooney (R., Fla.) said in an interview Monday. "But when you control the House and the Senate and the White House and shut down the government -- there is no excuse for that at all."

Some Republicans saw Democratic support as one way through the political minefield.

Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.), a top congressional ally of Mr. Trump, said he "would not be too surprised" if Democrats supplied the majority of the votes needed to raise the debt ceiling. "There's 20 or so [Republicans] that would come to the rescue of our own party," he said. "If it comes to that, we will do it again."

Some GOP lawmakers said that while their party's most conservative members might feel new power to make demands, the conservative bloc could also splinter amid disagreements over whether it was wise to block the party's best chance to replace the Affordable Care Act and deliver on a central campaign promise.

One member of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Ted Poe (R., Texas), said Sunday that he had resigned from the bloc of the party's most conservative members, which includes many who worked to stop the health bill because they felt it was too tepid in repealing the ACA. On Monday, Rep. Brian Babin (R., Texas) said he was contemplating leaving the group out of "frustration" over the failure of the health bill.

Mr. Collins also suggested a consequence of last week's health-bill collapse might be to divide the House Freedom Caucus.

While some Freedom Caucus members are "emboldened" because they defeated a top leadership priority, Mr. Collins said, "there are others who are more chastened by what happened and the failure of Republicans with all the levers to not be able to repeal and replace Obamacare."

Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments, said that "collapse of the health-care bill will embolden members of both parties; neither Trump nor Ryan look as invincible as they did just a week ago."

"The debt-ceiling extension this summer could rival the health battle for bitterness and GOP dysfunction," he said. "I can't see enough votes in the House to raise it without Ryan seeking votes from [House Democratic Leader] Nancy Pelosi's troops."

Congress agreed in the fall of 2015 to the overall spending levels of a two-year budget deal that ends in October. But several political conflicts could be triggered next month, depending on what else GOP leaders decide to put into the short-term spending bill.

Mr. Trump has asked for more funding to begin work building a wall along the border with Mexico, which Senate Democrats have said they would oppose in the April spending bill. And while Mr. Trump wants to boost military spending, Democrats have said any increase in military spending must be matched by a comparable increase in nonmilitary spending.

Moreover, conservatives are likely to pressure Mr. Ryan to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the women's health-care provider, in the spending measure. That would draw opposition from Democrats and some Senate Republicans, potentially dooming any spending bill.

Any effort to defund Planned Parenthood "would make the women's march look like child's play," said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, referring to the anti-Trump protests in many cities in January. "You're just going to get backlash," she said.

Democrats say they won't compromise on core principles in the course of supporting the fiscal measures or a tax overhaul that is a top priority of Mr. Trump and his party.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic leader, said Monday that if Republicans tried to pass "a huge tax break for the wealthy and already profitable and powerful corporations -- it will fail."

Democrats said they felt empowered by the turn of events. "We never have to kowtow to their demands," said Rep. Greg Meeks (D., N.Y). He said the Republicans' approach would determine how tough Democrats need to be in asserting themselves. "I think that the president should see and the speaker should see they have a choice: They can rely on the Freedom Caucus to try to get all of their votes...or they can try to become reasonable and deal with something that moderates on both sides can come together on."

Republicans could start outreach with a phone call, said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. "It's extraordinary how little outreach there has been from Republicans to Democrats," he said.

During the Obama administration, conservative lawmakers frequently opposed borrowing-limit increases as a tool to force spending cuts or other policy measures, such as a repeal of the ACA, the 2010 health law passed by Democrats. It isn't clear how the Republican-controlled Congress would handle such opposition now, with a Republican president.

Top Democrats on two House committees earlier this month urged Mr. Trump to swiftly secure an increase in the borrowing limit. "It is imperative that you, like all of your predecessors, send a clear message that the United States will continue to pay its debts on time and in full," said Reps. John Yarmuth (D., Ky.) and Richard Neal (D., Mass.).

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has also called on Congress to quickly address the issue.

Apart from the must-pass legislation, Republicans still have other big-ticket items they hope to finish this year, including an overhaul of the tax code, which is unlikely to get much Democratic support. That has been a top priority of Mr. Ryan, the former House Ways and Means Committee chairman. But on Monday, the White House said it planned to take the lead.

"Obviously, we're driving the train on this," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.

Mr. Spicer told reporters that the White House has "a lot of folks on the team" working on a tax plan, including Mr. Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

His comments came a day after the top tax writer in the House, Rep. Kevin Brady, cautioned the White House against assembling its own proposal. Mr. Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said House Republicans and the Trump administration have "so much in common" that they should work together on one package.

--Nick Timiraos, Michael C. Bender and Richard Rubin contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2017 20:47 ET (00:47 GMT)

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