Lame-duck negotiations to fund the government â and possibly to avert a debt-limit standoff â are even less predictable following President Joe Bidenâs decision not to seek reelection as top Republicans say the president should resign.
House Republicans have said their willingness to negotiate an appropriations deal â and possibly a debt-limit deal â before the end of the calendar year depends on the outcome of the November elections. Lawmakers expect to rely on a stopgap measure to fund the government past the Sept. 30 deadline and then decide after the election how and when to negotiate a bicameral funding agreement. Meanwhile, last yearâs suspension of the debt limit expires Jan. 1, raising the possibility of a year-end negotiation, though Treasury officials can buy more time with so-called âextraordinary measures.â
Lame-duck negotiations may be especially uncomfortable after key Republicans said Biden should resign if he canât run for reelection.
âIf Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,â Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement yesterday. âHe must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.â
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) echoed those comments in a statement, saying if Biden âis not fit to be the Democratic nominee in November then he is certainly not qualified to remain as President today.â
Cole had previously urged Republicans to seek a conclusion to government-funding talks before the start of a new administration if former President Donald Trump wins in November, avoiding a burdensome legislative deadline early in his term. Republicans ultimately would follow Trumpâs lead on timing, though, Cole said.
âAssuming that President Trump is the next president, weâll do what he asks us to do,â Cole told reporters earlier this month.
In the run-up to the election, Republicans should keep running on the same issues theyâve been emphasizing and rally around Trump, said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a senior appropriator who called Bidenâs decision âa foregone conclusion.â
âMy recommendation to my fellow Republicans is to run hard on the issues facing everyday Americansâsecuring our border, lowering inflation, and making our country safer,â Womack said in a statement yesterday. âRepublicans need to remain united behind President Trump.â
Top Democratic appropriators support Vice President Kamala Harris for president, following Bidenâs endorsement. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement sheâs âbehind Vice President Harris one-hundred percent.â Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement she joins Biden âin saying we should come together to support Vice President Kamala Harris.â
Telework restrictions, District of Columbia governance, and pay cuts for Cabinet officials are among the hundreds of amendments offered by House members to four government-funding bills up for votes this week.
The House is set to vote on its Agriculture-FDA, Energy and Water, Financial Services, and Interior-Environment appropriations bills for fiscal 2025 this week. If Republicans can rally their narrow majority around the measures, that would make it eight of 12 annual funding bills passed by the chamber, while one other bill failed on the floor two weeks ago.
Passage would set the stage for later bicameral talks with the Senate, where appropriators aim to hold their second markup, on four bills, this week. Cole said earlier this month lawmakers understand theyâll have to meet in the middle for an ultimate funding deal.
âWe recognize the Senate has its own process,â Cole told reporters after his committee finished its markups. âWeâre a little bit ahead of them. Our 12 bills are out. We literally could go to conference now.â
First, the House Rules Committee will meet today to consider which of the 683 filed amendments will get votes on the floor.
High- and low-profile Biden administration officials would see their salaries cut to $1 under a series of GOP amendments offered to the four bills, under the recently revived âHolman rule.â That includes: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and the heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It does not include Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
A measure by Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) would bar regular telework at the Small Business Administration, adding to a trend of skepticism about remote work for federal employees.
The District of Columbia may get the spotlight as part of consideration of the Financial Services bill, which also includes General Government measures that cover the district. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) offered a series of measures to remove GOP prohibitions in the bill, including an amendment to allow the district to spend its local funds to commercialize marijuana.
Conservatives offered a wide array of funding prohibitions, including measures to:
- block money for a new FBI headquarters,
- strike all funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
- bar grants from going to electric vehicle companies,
- block Agriculture-FDA funds for âwoke courses, books, and study guides,â and
- prohibit Indian Health Service funds for sex-transition surgeries, and
- ban drag shows at the Smithsonian Institution.
The bills also offer a backdoor to foreign-policy fights, despite their focus on domestic agencies. One amendment would bar Interior officials from permitting energy or mining leases to entities tied to the Chinese government. Another is intended to add report language to direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to evaluate the threat of US farmland owned by adversarial nations. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) offered an amendment to ban any money in the Interior-Environment bill from going to Ukrainian companies.
A measure by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) to bar FDA officials from implementing an agency rule on mifepristone risk evaluation may revive a high-profile fight over the medication abortion drug. Last year, House Republicans included a measure to bar the availability of mifepristone by mail, a rider that contributed to the Agriculture-FDA billâs failed floor vote that year. Republicans left that provision out of the current fiscal 2025 funding bill.
Senate appropriators will mark up four bills on Thursday, covering Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD funding, the panel announced last week.
Harris Endorsement Puts Pressure on Lame-Duck Talks
bgov.com
July 22, 2024 4:12 pm
Lame-duck negotiations to fund the government â and possibly to avert a debt-limit standoff â are even less predictable following President Joe Bidenâs decision not to seek reelection as top Republicans say the president should resign.
House Republicans have said their willingness to negotiate an appropriations deal â and possibly a debt-limit deal â before the end of the calendar year depends on the outcome of the November elections. Lawmakers expect to rely on a stopgap measure to fund the government past the Sept. 30 deadline and then decide after the election how and when to negotiate a bicameral funding agreement. Meanwhile, last yearâs suspension of the debt limit expires Jan. 1, raising the possibility of a year-end negotiation, though Treasury officials can buy more time with so-called âextraordinary measures.â
Lame-duck negotiations may be especially uncomfortable after key Republicans said Biden should resign if he canât run for reelection.
âIf Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,â Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement yesterday. âHe must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.â
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) echoed those comments in a statement, saying if Biden âis not fit to be the Democratic nominee in November then he is certainly not qualified to remain as President today.â
Cole had previously urged Republicans to seek a conclusion to government-funding talks before the start of a new administration if former President Donald Trump wins in November, avoiding a burdensome legislative deadline early in his term. Republicans ultimately would follow Trumpâs lead on timing, though, Cole said.
âAssuming that President Trump is the next president, weâll do what he asks us to do,â Cole told reporters earlier this month.
In the run-up to the election, Republicans should keep running on the same issues theyâve been emphasizing and rally around Trump, said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a senior appropriator who called Bidenâs decision âa foregone conclusion.â
âMy recommendation to my fellow Republicans is to run hard on the issues facing everyday Americansâsecuring our border, lowering inflation, and making our country safer,â Womack said in a statement yesterday. âRepublicans need to remain united behind President Trump.â
Top Democratic appropriators support Vice President Kamala Harris for president, following Bidenâs endorsement. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement sheâs âbehind Vice President Harris one-hundred percent.â Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement she joins Biden âin saying we should come together to support Vice President Kamala Harris.â
Telework restrictions, District of Columbia governance, and pay cuts for Cabinet officials are among the hundreds of amendments offered by House members to four government-funding bills up for votes this week.
The House is set to vote on its Agriculture-FDA, Energy and Water, Financial Services, and Interior-Environment appropriations bills for fiscal 2025 this week. If Republicans can rally their narrow majority around the measures, that would make it eight of 12 annual funding bills passed by the chamber, while one other bill failed on the floor two weeks ago.
Passage would set the stage for later bicameral talks with the Senate, where appropriators aim to hold their second markup, on four bills, this week. Cole said earlier this month lawmakers understand theyâll have to meet in the middle for an ultimate funding deal.
âWe recognize the Senate has its own process,â Cole told reporters after his committee finished its markups. âWeâre a little bit ahead of them. Our 12 bills are out. We literally could go to conference now.â
First, the House Rules Committee will meet today to consider which of the 683 filed amendments will get votes on the floor.
High- and low-profile Biden administration officials would see their salaries cut to $1 under a series of GOP amendments offered to the four bills, under the recently revived âHolman rule.â That includes: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and the heads of the Food and Drug Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It does not include Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
A measure by Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) would bar regular telework at the Small Business Administration, adding to a trend of skepticism about remote work for federal employees.
The District of Columbia may get the spotlight as part of consideration of the Financial Services bill, which also includes General Government measures that cover the district. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) offered a series of measures to remove GOP prohibitions in the bill, including an amendment to allow the district to spend its local funds to commercialize marijuana.
Conservatives offered a wide array of funding prohibitions, including measures to:
- block money for a new FBI headquarters,
- strike all funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
- bar grants from going to electric vehicle companies,
- block Agriculture-FDA funds for âwoke courses, books, and study guides,â and
- prohibit Indian Health Service funds for sex-transition surgeries, and
- ban drag shows at the Smithsonian Institution.
The bills also offer a backdoor to foreign-policy fights, despite their focus on domestic agencies. One amendment would bar Interior officials from permitting energy or mining leases to entities tied to the Chinese government. Another is intended to add report language to direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to evaluate the threat of US farmland owned by adversarial nations. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) offered an amendment to ban any money in the Interior-Environment bill from going to Ukrainian companies.
A measure by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) to bar FDA officials from implementing an agency rule on mifepristone risk evaluation may revive a high-profile fight over the medication abortion drug. Last year, House Republicans included a measure to bar the availability of mifepristone by mail, a rider that contributed to the Agriculture-FDA billâs failed floor vote that year. Republicans left that provision out of the current fiscal 2025 funding bill.
Senate appropriators will mark up four bills on Thursday, covering Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD funding, the panel announced last week.