House Republicans are teeing up a jam-packed schedule this week in an effort to get a head start on some of the party’s top priorities before leaving Washington for the month of August.
The House is tentatively scheduled to vote on advancing three major spending bills as leaders hope to overcome internal GOP turmoil that has plagued the lower chamber off and on for the past month. The Rules Committee will meet on Monday afternoon to advance a procedural motion that ties the major spending bills together, teeing up a make-or-break vote for the House schedule on Tuesday afternoon, according to an early schedule obtained by the Deseret News.
That procedural motion, known as a rule vote, sets the parameters for debate and passage for each piece of legislation that is brought to the floor. If the rule vote fails, the bills tucked into the measure cannot move forward.
Republicans will likely need to rely on their own party to get the bills across the finish line, especially as GOP leaders seek to attach portions of President Donald Trump’s desired election bill enacting proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements to some of the legislation.
The heaviest lift of the week will be Republicans’ third proposed budget reconciliation package seeking $95 billion to cover defense spending and election integrity, among other things. The budget resolution was unveiled just last week and doesn’t include spending cuts to offset the multibillion-dollar price tag, prompting fiscal hawks to raise their eyebrows.
The spending resolution would seek to cover much of the costs of the war in Iran while also enacting portions of the SAVE America Act that pertain to budgetary implementation.
The lack of offsets could prompt some conservative Republicans to vote against the rule when it comes to the floor on Tuesday, which could derail the week’s schedule before it even begins.
If the rule does survive, the House will first try to advance a resolution that would extend current federal spending levels through the beginning of December, punting the annual appropriations process to fund government departments and agencies until after the midterm elections. That vote is expected to come as early as Tuesday evening, according to the initial schedule.
That spending extension, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, is expected to pass. It’s not yet clear if Democrats will support it.
The CR is deemed to be “mostly clean,” meaning it doesn’t attach unrelated policy provisions. So Democrats could be more inclined to support the bill, as it doesn’t include the SAVE America Act, Republicans’ sweeping election reform bill they are pushing elsewhere.
Republicans hope to pass defense bill
Lawmakers are then expected to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense bill that outlines the proposed budget for the Pentagon. That bill typically passes in a massive bipartisan vote, but its fate is more uncertain as Republican leaders say they’ll attach the SAVE America Act to the package when they send it over to the Senate.
Assuming all House Republicans are on board, the bill should pass with little to no Democratic support. But the language attaching the SAVE America Act is not likely to survive the Senate, where it would need 60 votes and Democratic buy-in to succeed.
That vote is expected Wednesday afternoon, according to the initial schedule.
Meanwhile, the House is eyeing a number of other legislative priorities before representatives leave town, including a stock trading ban for lawmakers that both parties have been pushing for months. That bill will also seek to advance voter ID provisions.
After this week, the House will leave Washington for its annual August recess and won’t return until Aug. 31.
The Senate is not far behind. Senators are scheduled to leave town on Aug. 7 and won’t be back until after Labor Day.
And while it’ll be a heavy lift for the House to send over the NDAA and a post-midterms CR, the Senate is already preparing its own versions of those bills — signaling there is a still long road ahead for Republicans to get these must-pass bills to the president’s desk.