WASHINGTON — House Republicans’ plan to pass a full-year defense appropriations bill with a continuing resolution for remaining agencies through Jan. 19 was supposed to be an easy lift, a measure designed to show the Senate their unified support for increased national security funding.
But as the House prepares to vote on the spending bill today, just two days before the Dec. 22 government funding deadline, GOP divisions over the $81 billion disaster supplemental that leadership hoped to attach to the so-called “CRomnibus” has effectively weakened the House’s negotiating leverage.
Leadership announced their plan to attach the supplemental to the spending bill during the weekly House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday, prompting members to grouse that the supplemental was not offset with cuts elsewhere.
By the end of the day GOP leaders were conducting a whip check to see if there was enough support for their plan. Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry told Roll Call after the last vote series during which the whip was conducted that the bills may need to move separately.
“There’s no ideological commitment to the structure of these three pieces we have to move,” the North Carolina Republican said of the CRomnibus, disaster supplemental and reauthorization of government surveillance powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Leadership had already decided to move the FISA piece separately from the CRomnibus in the face of GOP opposition. Now it appears they may need to have three separate votes, or they may decide to combine the disaster supplemental with the FISA bill.
With Democrats planning to oppose the CRomnibus, Republicans have little room for error. The measure also includes funds for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Choice program, both of which are running short of cash.
Leadership decided to attach the disaster supplemental to the CRomnibus after lawmakers from hurricane-ravaged areas in Texas and Florida and wildfire-decimated areas of California threatened to withhold their votes for the spending bill if the House didn’t also pass the disaster aid.
Whether it moves separately from the disaster supplemental or not, GOP leaders are planning to pass the CRomnibus today, knowing it’s just one of many hurdles they’ll have to clear in the next few days to avoid a government shutdown.
