Republicans on Capitol Hill are discussing extending current government funding levels until December 2026 as debate heats up about the length of a potential stopgap funding bill to reopen the government.

Republicans increasingly say a funding stopgap until well beyond Nov. 21 — the funding extension date in the House-passed “clean” continuing resolution (CR) that has failed in the Senate 11 times — will be needed to end the government shutdown, and are privately discussing new end dates, as The Hill previously reported.

But there is a divide over whether such an extension should carry over the short or long term.

On the longer-term side of things, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that some Republicans are talking about a funding extension for well more than a year — until December 2026.

“I’ve been hearing this conversation from senators, from House members,........

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