©  Greg Nash

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS are striking a confident tone ahead of Tuesday evening’s vote on a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open, which will be another key test of President Trump’s influence over the GOP.

Republicans are not expected to get any help from Democrats, who are whipping against the bill that would fund the government for six months at slightly lower spending levels than 2024.

“We’ll have the votes,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said. “We’re gonna pass the CR. We can do it on our own.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is so far the only hard no on the Republican side. He’s opposed similar funding patches in the past and won’t make an exception for this one, despite Trump’s insistence that there be “no dissent” within the GOP caucus.

Trump has promised to put up a primary challenge against Massie, a fiscal hawk who has refused to bend to Trump’s second term spending demands.

“Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me,” Massie posted on X.

If Democrats have full attendance and vote unanimously against the CR, then Republicans can’t afford even one more defection for it to pass.

The spotlight now turns to a handful of other potential GOP holdouts, although all of them got on board to pass the budget resolution last month after being prodded by Trump.

The conservative hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus will support the CR, despite opposing similar temporary funding measures in the past.

“This bill will reduce and then freeze spending for the next six months to allow President Trump and his Administration to continue their critical work within the Executive Branch to find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement.

Vice President Vance visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to try to close the deal.

The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks report that Vance told lawmakers that if the House fails to pass the CR, Republicans will be blamed. But if the Senate fails to pass it, Democrats will be blamed.

Asked if they’d have the votes, Rep. Tom Emmer (Minn.), the GOP whip, responded: “Hell yeah.”

A shutdown is still possible Friday even if the House passes the CR.

In the Senate, at least seven Democrats will have to support it to surpass the 60-vote threshold, assuming all Republicans vote in favor.

Some Democrats insist they’ll oppose it.

“This is a shutdown bill that’s bad for the economy—let Trump shutdown whatever he wants, hurting everyday folks to use money for tax breaks for the uber-rich,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) posted on X. “Hell no!”

But The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that some Senate Democrats fear a shutdown could backfire by supercharging Elon Musk’s efforts to gut the federal workforce.

“Who knows what he’s going to want to open back up? That is a huge risk,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said. “Maybe they decide that entire government agencies don’t need to exist anymore.”’

The government in Ontario, Canada, is backing off its threat to slap a surcharge on electricity sold to three U.S. states to give Premier Doug Ford and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick more time to reach a deal.

Ford and Lutnick will meet in person in Washington on Thursday to discuss a renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Trump has promised reciprocal tariffs on Canada and other countries that are set to go into effect starting April 2.

The president has been raging at Ford over the threatened levy on electricity, saying Tuesday that his administration would double the planned steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada in retaliation for the electricity surcharge.

But Lutnick and Ford released a joint statement this afternoon saying they'd had a “productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada.”

“In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota,” Ford and Lutnick said.

This comes amid a slump in consumer and small business confidence. The stock market has sold off dramatically in recent days and economists warn the trade war could torpedo the global economy.

Trump will make remarks this evening at a Business Roundtable meeting.

Senate Republicans, who have long opposed tariffs, are sounding the alarm.

“When the markets tumble like this in response to tariffs, it pays to listen,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on X.

The latest Emerson College poll found Trump’s approval on the economy is 11 points underwater, with 53 percent of Americans saying tariffs will harm the economy.