White House escalates attacks on House GOP in government funding face-off
White House escalates attacks on House GOP in government funding face-off
As House Republican leaders look to nail down the votes to fund the Pentagon next year, administration officials will look to paint Speaker Kevin McCarthy as an untrustworthy dealbreaker.
FIRST THINGS FIRST • Welcome back, House! ➟ The House will be back in Washington this evening for the first time since July. Members will take a series of non-controversial votes to ease them back into action ahead of an 18-day sprint that will require them to keep the government open and figure out a path forward on a few other must-pass bills facing expiration at the end of the month.
On the agenda: House Republican leaders will attempt to drag a massive $826 billion bill to fund the Defense Department across the finish line this week.
But Democrats oppose the bill so Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY will likely have to pass it with his own members, which is no guarantee. Case in point: House GOP leadership sent members home for August recess a day early in July after they realized they were short on votes to pass a bill to fund the Agriculture Department and FDA.
The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon with the task of approving a measure that would allow for debate and a vote on the Pentagon bill on Thursday. But what used to be a formality under previous majorities from both parties has become a stumbling block for McCarthy and company. Don’t be surprised if this week is no different.
View from the White House: Unsurprisingly, the White House opposes the bill for the reasons I outlined in Monday’s edition and more. If the bill reached President Biden’s desk, which it won’t since Democrats control the Senate, he would veto it.
Here’s what the administration said in its veto threat:
House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead, with less than a month before the end of the fiscal year, are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the [Fiscal Responsibility Act] agreement and endanger critical services for the American people. These levels would result in deep cuts to climate change and clean energy programs, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and healthcare.
Dems go on offense: The White House and congressional Democrats will escalate their attacks on House Republicans for violating the bipartisan budget agreement and proposing appropriations bills that fund the government below the levels President Biden and Speaker McCarthy agreed to earlier this year.
White House Budget Chief SHALANDA YOUNG wrote a memo isolating Speaker McCarthy as the only congressional leader who has reneged on his word to honor the deal. And the administration is holding a call with state and local reporters later today to frame its position in hopes that House Republicans receive the brunt of the blame in the event of a government shutdown.
“The White House is giving allies the tools they need to hold House Republicans’ feet to the fire for the devastating impacts their draconian cuts will have on hard-working Americans,” a White House Budget Office official said.
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SENATE TO START ENGINE ON MINIBUS ➟ Meanwhile across the Capitol, the Senate this evening will take a procedural vote on a package of three appropriations bills known around these parts as a “minibus.” The legislation would fund (1) military construction and the Veterans’ Affairs Department, (2) agriculture programs and the FDA, and (3) the transportation and housing agencies.
The timeline: Senate Majority Whip DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.), the number-two Senate Democrat, told reporters on Monday he expects the minibus to pass next week once senators have a chance to debate and vote on amendments. We’ll have a firmer timeline once we know how many amendments will be filed and considered.
Schumer: We’re the adults in the room: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) on Monday continued to brand the upper chamber as the functional legislative body in Congress while urging the House to stand up to the handful of conservatives who have hijacked the appropriations process.
“I implore House Republicans to follow the Senate’s example: Reject all-or-nothing tactics, reject unrealistic extreme demands, don’t let 30 people way out on the extreme dictate what the House does,” Schumer said on the House floor. “Instead, the House should work in a bipartisan fashion to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30.”
It’s worth noting: The minibus includes some of the least controversial of the dozen bills Congress must pass to fund the government—each of the three bills in it unanimously passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee—so it remains to be seen if the Senate will maintain the unity that we’ve seen up to this point.
ABOUT THOSE OTHER DEADLINES ➟ Beyond keeping the government open, Congress faces a month-end deadline on two other pressing legislative items: A bill to set aviation policy and the farm bill, a sprawling piece of agricultural and nutrition legislation.
FAA update: The House passed its version of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization in July in one of the few bipartisan votes we’ve seen on a major bill.
However, the Senate Commerce Committee has yet to complete a markup of the legislation. The bill has been stalled in committee all summer due to a dispute regarding whether pilots should be able to substitute hours spent in a flight simulator for actual flight time to meet training requirements.
A spokesperson for the Senate Commerce Committee told Supercreator News last month that there were no new updates to share on the FAA bill. The committee has yet to reschedule the markup.
“ALPA supports a safety-focused FAA reauthorization bill—one that does not weaken safety regulations that have contributed to the safest period in air travel in US history and reduced passenger fatalities by 98.8 percent over the last decade,” a spokesperson for the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement to Supercreator News. “We believe leaders in the Senate are working diligently to produce a safety-first bill as quickly as possible.”
Farm bill latest: Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Sen. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-Mich.) has set a December deadline to pass the farm bill.
A source familiar with the process told Supercreator on Monday that they believed there is still an outside chance that a farm bill could get done this year.
“But there’s a lot of work ahead all the way from markup through getting it to the floor and then conferencing it,” the source said of the legislative steps still to be completed. “There are differences of opinion between the Senate and the House. I think getting it signed into law will be an uphill battle.”
This means an extension of the current farm bill may be in play.
“Once you get past December and into January, there are more challenges,” the source added. “One could argue that it would be best practice to actually pass an extension prior to Sept. 30 and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case.”
In addition to food availability and food access programs, the farm bill also invests in providing access to credit for historically underserved and beginning farmers and ranchers.
“The farm bill invests in programs that not only ultimately dictate what ends up on our plates but impacts what’s on our grocery store shelves, how much they cost,” MIKE LAVENDER, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said in an interview with Supercreator News. “It impacts what the people who produce those things look like—are they older, are they young? Are they [Black, indigenous, or people of color]? It’s one of the most under-acknowledged bills Congress considers.”
HAPPENINGS
All times Eastern
10 a.m. President Biden will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
12 p.m. The House is in with first and last votes expected at 6:30 p.m. on seven bills considered under suspension of the rules.
5 p.m. First Lady Dr. JILL BIDEN will host an event at the White House to celebrate the 2023 Praemium Imperiale Laureates, a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association for lifetime achievement in the arts. Dr. Biden and Former Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON will also speak.
Vice President Harris will be in Washington and has no public events scheduled.
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