WASHINGTON \u2014 The bill funding military housing and veterans benefits is supposed to be the easiest one of the 12 annual appropriations measures to pass. Members of the House Freedom Caucus and other hard-line GOP conservatives are about to test that thinking.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one Republicans have signed a letter pledging to oppose any spending bill unless it meets their terms. Another, retiring Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., is promising to vote against rules needed to bring any bills to the floor.<\/p>\n
So far, with little to no Democratic support expected for the Military Construction-VA bill due to partisan riders added by the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee, there\u2019s no clear path to passage.<\/p>\n
And if the \u201cmilcon\u201d bill can\u2019t pass the House, there\u2019s probably little hope for any of the others, including the Agriculture bill that\u2019s also currently slotted for the floor this week.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden has threatened to veto those two bills. But not being able to pass any in the House would likely blow up any chance for a \u201cregular order\u201d process of conferencing bills with the Senate and avoiding a nasty year-end pileup, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised.<\/p>\n
Some of the biggest proponents of that regular order process have also been the biggest critics of the spending bills that House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, has produced.<\/p>\n
The dozen fiscal 2024 bills her panel has been working on already undershoot the spending limits McCarthy agreed to with President Joe Biden in the debt limit package \u2014 though not by much when offsets are factored in, and the conservatives want much more.<\/p>\n
Six signatories on this month\u2019s letter to McCarthy appeared at a Tuesday press conference to reiterate their demands, including cutting the bills by another $115 billion, down to fiscal 2022 levels. That\u2019s the amount Granger would rescind from previously appropriated but unspent funds to make room for more money next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the \u201822 levels, and we want no rescissions,\u201d Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said. \u201cNo smoke and mirrors for the American people. We want a budget that trims the fat, goes to programs that will defend and protect this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Military Construction-VA bill is one that none of the conservatives have proposed to cut. But they want more policy riders attached to make their point on cultural issues.<\/p>\n
Among the newest of the 100-plus amendments submitted to the House Rules Committee, which is meeting Tuesday afternoon, is one from Freedom Caucus and Rules member Chip Roy, R-Texas, that would prevent the VA from changing its mission statement, which is displayed at around half the agencies\u2019 facilities.<\/p>\n
Roy\u2019s amendment would preserve the current statement, which is this: \u201cTo fulfill President Lincoln\u2019s promise \u2018to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan\u2019 by serving and honoring the men and women who are America\u2019s veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new mission statement, which the VA announced in March \u2014 arguing it would be more inclusive \u2014 is this: \u201cTo fulfill President Lincoln\u2019s promise to care for those who have served in our nation\u2019s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rules could make in order that amendment and others sought by conservatives on social issues, but there\u2019s no guarantee they would survive an up-or-down vote on the floor. That\u2019s why a more or less open amendment process may not be enough to win Freedom Caucus and other conservatives\u2019 backing for the rule, which is critical just to get the measure to the floor.<\/p>\n
Another concern expressed by conservatives on Tuesday is they haven\u2019t had enough time to read the bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen the language, they promised us 72 hours, and they need to deliver that to us as well,\u201d Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. said.<\/p>\n
However, both the Military Construction-VA and Agriculture bills were made public in mid-May and were advanced through committee in mid-June. The Rules Committee announced July 14 the process for accepting amendments, and Biggs himself submitted 10 amendments to the Agriculture bill and one to the Military Construction-VA measure.<\/p>\n
In addition, conservatives say they won\u2019t support any of the spending measures on the floor until they can see all 12 of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are united in the belief that we need to see what the entire cost is, before we can start working on individual pieces of it, because again, you will be left with a very small piece of that pie that we might have to take a lot of that spending out of,\u201d said Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont, who might challenge Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., next year.<\/p>\n
All 12 bills have been released by the Appropriations Committee, and House appropriators have reported 10 of the 12 appropriations bills out of committee, with just the Commerce-Justice-Science and Labor-HHS-Education bills remaining.<\/p>\n
Further, the committee adopted subcommittee allocations June 15 laying out the spending levels for each of the bills, and noted in the report accompanying the allocations that rescissions would be used.<\/p>\n
House Freedom Caucus members are expected to meet Tuesday night to plot strategy, and Republican leaders are expected to conduct a \u201cwhip check\u201d on the Military Construction-VA bill at votes Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
At the outset of the Rules meeting Tuesday, the panel\u2019s top Democrat took aim at the GOP\u2019s apparent disarray.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Freedom Caucus) members were outside ranting and raving, once again, held a press conference where the most right wing of the right wing were promising to vote down any rule, any funding bill, that is not exactly what they want in the way they want it, how they want it, and when they want,\u201d Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said. \u201cAnd what do they want? I don\u2019t even think they know what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republican leaders have one potential card to play on the Military Construction-VA bill: Democratic votes.<\/p>\n
Four House Democrats backed the GOP-written defense authorization bill: Maine\u2019s Jared Golden, New Mexico\u2019s Gabe Vasquez, Washington\u2019s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and North Carolina\u2019s Don Davis.<\/p>\n
Golden and Perez represent districts former President Donald Trump carried in 2020. Perez and Vasquez are freshmen whose races are considered Toss-ups in 2024 by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Golden\u2019s race is considered Lean Democratic.<\/p>\n
Golden is a Marine Corps veteran who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Davis served in the Air Force.<\/p>\n
Aides to Davis and Vasquez said they were currently undecided on the Military Construction-VA bill, while aides to Golden and Perez didn\u2019t immediately respond.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s unlikely any Democrats back the rule for floor debate, putting the ball back in the hard-line conservatives\u2019 court whether to allow any spending bills \u2014 including one as politically sensitive and popular as Military Construction-VA \u2014 to come to the floor at all before lawmakers head home for August.<\/p>\n
Across the Capitol, no bills are expected to pass before the summer break. But Senate appropriators, who are writing their bills above the caps<\/a> in the debt ceiling deal, have reported eight of the 12 bills out of committee with wide bipartisan support, with the remaining four set to be considered Thursday.<\/p>\n Those are the Defense, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education and Homeland Security spending bills. Some of those may be more partisan than the previous rounds, however, and the absence of Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., due to COVID-19 may be felt.<\/p>\n All of these factors point to lawmakers doing the bare minimum after recess to simply keep the government operating beyond the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. But even a short-term stopgap funding bill may be a tall order in the current environment.<\/p>\n House Freedom Caucus member Bob Good, R-Va., said Tuesday that McCarthy shouldn\u2019t accept any compromises in order to avert a partial shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t fear a government shutdown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n