Speaker Mike Johnson has set an ambitious agenda for this week, which is set to be House lawmakers’ final one in session before a five-week August break. Johnson and GOP leaders are looking to move past intraparty differences that have ground legislative business to a halt recently. They hope to pass several major pieces of legislation: the annual defense policy bill; a budget framework setting up another $95 billion spending package, including $60 billion for the Pentagon; an extension of federal funding until December 4; and a stock-trading ban that also includes a voter ID measure.
The House Rules Committee began work this afternoon to tee up those bills for consideration on the House floor.
The budget resolution may face the hardest path. It could face opposition from fiscal conservatives angry that it doesn’t include any cuts to offset the spending being added. Some lawmakers reportedly also say that the Pentagon has failed to make a clear case for why it urgently needs this additional funding after Republicans provided an infusion of extra funding in an earlier party-line bill.
President Trump on Monday urged Republicans to back the budget resolution. In a social media post, he thanked many House Budget Committee members by name “for launching an effort to get AS MUCH of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible” in the resolution. The post seemed to acknowledge that the entire package he wants can’t survive the special reconciliation process Republicans are using.
“I am asking all House Republicans to VOTE YES this week on the Budget Resolution, which is an important first step towards getting a Budget Bill,” Trump wrote. “House Republicans must UNIFY, and fight for THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!”
Even if the framework is adopted in the House, its fate in the Senate remains unclear, especially because the Senate Budget Committee will be under new leadership. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is poised to take that gavel after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. Johnson, a noted deficit hawk, will face a test in trying to shepherd the GOP plan through some opposition. “A host of Senate Republicans and leadership sources have told us the House’ plan is ‘half-baked,’ ‘not a serious attempt’ and ultimately ‘not viable,’” Politico reports.
The NDAA: Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Friday that he will likely vote against the $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill that typically passes with bipartisan support.
“Our country faces threats and DoD has modernization needs, but I cannot and do not support meeting these needs by making massive cuts to critically important domestic programs and slashing taxes,” Smith said in a statement, referring to the Department of Defense. “We need to be more fiscally responsible and DoD needs to become more innovative and efficient in terms of developing capabilities to meet our national security needs in a more cost-effective manner. We also need to develop a realistic national security strategy and approach that doesn’t require a $1.15 trillion discretionary budget request and another partisan budget reconciliation process that includes an additional $60 to $350 billion for defense.”
Smith said that the bill is also likely to get loaded up with culture war amendments.
If it passes, the defense bill would be merged with the SAVE America Act, the package of voter restrictions that President Trump has made his top priority. The Senate would be expected to remove the election-related elements of the bill and other hardline conservative amendments that might get adopted.
The Senate eyes its own stopgap: House Republicans’ plan would see the chamber dump a stopgap funding bill on the Senate and then leave town. Senate Republicans appear to have their own ideas on government funding. They have reportedly discussed a spending bill with Democrats and are also working with the White House on anomalies — changes to current spending levels — for a bill that would prevent a government shutdown once current funding expires at the end of September.
Time is tight: The House agenda for the week is jam-packed because the calendar leaves little time for legislating from now until the November midterms. While the House is set to leave on Thursday, the Senate is scheduled to stay in session until August 7 before starting its own recess, which stretches until mid-September. So this is the last week that both chambers are in town until September 14.
The bottom line: House Republicans are rushing to get as much of their agenda done as they can before their long break, but intraparty divisions and differences with the Senate GOP likely remain obstacles.
In an effort to get his party members in line and prevent another failure on a procedural vote, Johnson reportedly told some lawmakers that Republicans will try to pass a fourth budget reconciliation bill focused on cutting waste, fraud and abuse once the elections have passed.