As The Government Shutdown Approaches, The House Adopts The First GOP Spending Legislation In Months

After a months-long stalemate, the Republican-controlled House passed three annual appropriations bills on Thursday, but Congress is still on the verge of a government shutdown.

Why it matters: Republicans think that by banding together around budget bills, they may gain influence in negotiations with the Senate to produce bills that actually finance the government.

What happened: The House passed three of the four Republican appropriations bills that were voted on late Thursday night, making them the first such bills to pass since the August recess.

State Department and Foreign Operations: Passed 216-212, with Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) voting with Democrats in opposition.

Defense: Passed 218-210, with centrist Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D-Washington) voting with Republicans in support and right-wing Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) voting with Democrats in opposition.

Homeland Security: Passed 220-208, with Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez voting in support of the bill alongside Republicans.

Agriculture and FDA: Failed 191-237, with 27 Republicans voting no, largely moderates opposed to wording restricting abortion pill access and rural members opposed to expenditure cuts.

The intrigue: The House also voted 311-117 to approve a separate $300 million additional aid package for Ukraine, which includes the appointment of a special inspector general to supervise Ukraine assistance funds.

To appease Greene, one of the House GOP’s staunchest opponents of US assistance to the Ukrainian war effort, the proposal was removed from the military bill.

More than half of House Republicans voted against it, indicating growing antagonism among Republicans toward Ukraine, with Democrats voting for it more than twice as many times as Republicans.

What’s next: The House is anticipated to try to pass a party-line Republican bill to temporarily extend federal funding, known as a continuing resolution, on Friday.

However, enough Republicans have said they will not vote for a continuing resolution, making it appear difficult for one to pass along party lines.
The Senate is attempting to push a bipartisan interim bill, but conservative lawmakers are putting up roadblocks.

Given Democratic control of the Senate, any continuing resolution must be the result of negotiations between the two houses – a reality that poses significant personal risk to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
The big picture: A continuing resolution simply buys time – anywhere from a few months to a few days – because both chambers still have a significant number of substantive appropriations measures to enact.

Republicans in the House have passed four of the twelve appropriations bills, including the three voted on Thursday, as well as military construction and veterans affairs, which were enacted in July. The Senate has yet to pass any.

However, the House appropriations bills are riddled with right-wing policy riders and generally keep spending at 2022 levels, which are lower than the budget caps set in both the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement and the Senate appropriations bills.

This puts the two sides behind schedule and far apart, with little runway — or, in McCarthy’s case, leeway — to reach and then pass an agreement before Oct. 1.

As The Government Shutdown Approaches, The House Adopts The First GOP Spending Legislation In Months

After a months-long stalemate, the Republican-controlled House passed three annual appropriations bills on Thursday, but Congress is still on the verge of a government shutdown.

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