House Republicans are advancing an ambitious schedule of spending bills, thus far avoiding the tense intraparty battles over appropriations that paralyzed the House several times last year.
The move is a reflection of the House GOP’s largely accepting — or having no viable alternative — the tactical approach favored by the hard-line conservative wing of the conference that has been at the center of the turmoil in the past: passing the bill as conservative as possible in the small Republican majority and worry about negotiating later with the Democratic-controlled Senate.
On the agenda this week are bills to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State and foreign operations, and the Department of Defense. Republican leaders hope to pass all 12 annual funding bills by the August recess.
The bills have virtually no chance of becoming law in the face of opposition from the Senate and the White House, both controlled by Democrats. But 18 months after a tumultuous Congress that was defined by Republican infighting — including the unprecedented ouster of a House speaker by conservative agitators — GOP leaders are eager to demonstrate they have the power to govern to unite their conference. factional and pass important legislation to maintain the government. opened before the November elections.
Republicans struggled to rally their troops around funding bills last year, passing just seven of 12 annual appropriations bills for the current fiscal year. This infuriated conservatives and undermined the party’s influence when it came time to negotiate with Democratic leaders the bipartisan spending proposals that would eventually become law.
In several dramatic displays of protest, conservatives have used procedural maneuvers to block action on funding laws.
But the discord that was common for months, with hours-long meetings in the House speaker’s office and open rebellion on the floor, has subsided. This is largely due to the fact that this year’s bills build on the work and commitments reached last year, say the most radical.
“Last year was probably the best budget review we’ve had in maybe decades to really right-size these agencies,” said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Another factor that pleases hardliners are the conservative policies included in the bills. The Defense funding bill introduced this week, for example, prohibits department funds from being used for gender-affirming surgeries or hormone therapies.
“Often the discussion around spending bills… from a conservative or non-conservative perspective, was just about the dollar amounts – which, the dollar amounts are important, but the policy is also extremely important. And so there is an understanding across our conference that we need to get good political victories in these cases,” Cloud said.
There are other factors that make this year’s spending debate different from that of 2023.
The personality conflict between conservatives and former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (Republican of California), for example, dissolved after McCarthy was expelled from power by the same hardliners.
And by the end of the year, conservatives gave up insisting on lower combined spending levels in their bills, largely accepting the top line of the Fiscal Responsibility Act debt ceiling deal that McCarthy reached with President Biden. .
GOP leaders also say they will no longer be subject to budget “side deals” under this deal — a major source of hard-line opposition to the spending measures.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who took over as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in April, said last month that his committee’s bills “will follow the law established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act — no side deals – and will focus resources where they are needed most.”
“I am pleased that we have solid revenue numbers and baseline accounts for the ongoing FY25 appropriations process,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said in a statement. “While there is certainly more work to be done, it is encouraging to see House Republicans united in rejecting swampy side deals and defending conservative policies.”
“We must continue to build on our momentum to pass and deliver 12 conservative and fiscally responsible appropriations bills to the American people,” added Clyde.
The proximity of the elections also plays an important role, as even staunch conservatives are trying hard to avoid infighting so close to November, when control of the lower house is at stake.
House Republicans got off to a good start on their ambitious appropriations calendar in the first week of June when they successfully passed the first of their 12 spending bills: legislation to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and military construction projects. That package featured a series of conservative social policy measures—including provisions to prevent the VA from expanding access to abortion; prevent the agency from providing medical benefits to undocumented people; and banning pride flags from its buildings – but also won the support of moderates. Only two Republicans defected.
That vote reflects the model that GOP leaders want: As they embrace conservative policies, leaders are also attentive to the political needs of more moderate Republicans, especially those facing tough re-election contests in battleground districts where social positions are on the line. tough policy would alienate centrists. voters. The text of a farm finance bill released this year, for example, does not include a policy rider to override a Biden administration rule that allows the abortion pill mifepristone to be sold in pharmacies and distributed by mail — a provision that has spurred resistance from moderates in the last year.
There is still plenty of room for ideological clashes as Republicans advance other bills. The Defense, Homeland Security and foreign operations bills presented this week are some of the easiest to achieve widespread agreement on.
The toughest battles will likely occur over bills to fund the Department of Health and Human Services, where abortion advocates will test GOP unity, and the Justice Department, where efforts to defund federal law enforcers could divide the party.
And controversial amendments can always complicate the approval of a bill in the Chamber plenary. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), for example, is introducing amendments to the House Rules Committee this week to reduce the salaries of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to U.S. $1.
Even if they don’t get everything they want, fiscal hawks hope they have changed the general Republican mood on appropriations.
“In the past, we have seen the left rush towards a fiscal abyss. We are heading towards the same fiscal cliff and we call it success,” Cloud said. “My position was that we should not settle for anything less than at least moving in the right direction. We may not be running right away, but we can’t continue in the wrong direction.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
