The normal cadence of government funding is that Congress runs up against a cliff and lawmakers pass an extension to buy themselves more time.
On Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats did something a little different: They passed their stopgap a month before the deadline.
Although current funding doesn’t expire until Oct. 1, House lawmakers pushed through a bill to extend government operations until Dec. 11, potentially clearing the way for GOP leaders to keep members on the campaign trail for the next two months until Election Day.
The House voted 370-48 on the Senate-passed spending bill, with 193 Republicans, 176 Democrats and one independent voting for the measure, and 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats opposing it, sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
While the bill’s passage is a brief success for congressional leaders — avoiding a shutdown right before the midterm elections — the process for passing the legislation outraged conservatives, who opposed a provision to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp products.
GOP leaders relied heavily on Democratic votes to pass the funding measure and overcome the opposition to the hemp provision, which would delay the ban from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11. Because GOP leaders passed the bill through suspension of the rules — which requires a two-thirds majority but doesn’t require a rule to bring the bill to the House floor — conservatives who were upset with both the process and the substance of the legislation didn’t have much opportunity to express their frustration.
Instead, some rankled conservatives opposed a rule for a series of other, unrelated measures — including a resolution denouncing socialism — to protest the fact that they didn’t get to vote on an amendment to remove the hemp measure. Ultimately, five Republicans voted against the rule, but two Democrats joined the rest of the GOP to overcome their opposition and pave the way for the consideration of those other measures.
Although the funding bill’s passage is a win for leaders, it is still just a temporary deal, meaning lawmakers will have to resume negotiations in December. And there are certain to be plenty of disagreements — on funding levels, on hemp products and on Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought’s role in steering federal grants.
For now, however, conservatives were stewing over Speaker Mike Johnson’s reliance on Democratic votes.
“It defeats the entire legislative process,” Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Tuesday. “The House and the Senate disagree on the continuing resolution. We should go to conference, or we should have a vote on — an individual vote on — the Senate’s ridiculous provisions.”
But in the end, the House and Senate didn’t disagree, even if a large group of House conservatives were frustrated with the delayed ban on hemp products.
The conservative opposition to an unrelated rule — which has become a trend under this Congress — left Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., with a simple conclusion.
“I think they’re all effed up, to be honest with you,” McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, told MS NOW. “They don’t know whether they’re coming or going.”
McGovern cited poor management by GOP leaders, noting that this week’s House agenda — aside from the government funding measure — largely consists of symbolic measures like the resolution denouncing socialism.
“The stuff we’re doing this week — putting the continuing resolution aside — is all bullshit,” McGovern said. “I mean, nonbinding bills on socialism and condemning this and condemning that. None of this stuff addresses the cost of living. None of this stuff addresses the high gas prices, the high cost of healthcare, the high cost of rent.”
Funding the government through Dec. 11 only provides a brief reprieve for negotiators, who have made little headway so far this year. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told reporters Tuesday that it’s simply not enough time to negotiate a funding deal, noting that his Senate counterparts haven’t released a single bill, while his committee had at least marked up all 12 funding measures.
“The Senate has wasted the entire year and a half,” Cole said. “I mean, they have not passed a single bill. All 12 bills were done in the House out of committee in June. There’s no excuse for not having a single one done.”
Cole said he blames Democrats in the Senate and not Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Appropriations Committee.
Democrats secured a measure in the stopgap funding bill to temporarily block a rule by the OMB to give political appointees more control over federal grants. The provision gives Democrats a temporary win over Vought, though it also will be up for negotiation in December.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top House Democratic appropriator, pitched colleagues on the OMB provision in a Tuesday morning meeting, which helped secure Democratic support, Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., told MS NOW.
Still, he said his expectations for a productive December are “minimalist” because of the dysfunction in the GOP-controlled House.
“The Freedom Caucus will still be there,” Beyer said.
Nour Longi contributed to this report.
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