Shutdown inches closer as U.S. House GOP fails to pass defense bill, lawmakers exit D.C.
by Jennifer Shutt, Alabama Reflector September 21, 2023 WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans were unable for a third time Thursday to begin debate on the Defense funding bill, throwing another wrench into Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership tenure. The 212-216 vote that rejected the rule for the $826 billion Defense spending measure was unexpected, coming less than a day after House GOP lawmakers gathered in a room in the Capitol basement to broker a path forward. Arizona Rep. Eli Crane and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene switched their votes to oppose the rule, after voting on Tuesday to adopt it. Colorado Rep. Ken Buck and South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman both supported adoption of the rule on Thursday after opposing it earlier in the week. Other Republicans voting no included Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, and Matt Rosendale of Montana. The rule would have allowed the House to begin officially debating the bill and voting on nearly 200 amendments. The failed vote led McCarthy to reverse course on the schedule, with many lawmakers heading home for the weekend on Thursday instead of sticking around for votes throughout the weekend. McCarthy had said exactly one week ago, “When we come back, we’re not going to leave. We’re going to get this done.” The update to the House schedule sent around Thursday afternoon said ”ample notice will be given ahead of any potential votes tomorrow or this weekend.” The stalemate and change of plans does not bode well for efforts to approve the short-term spending bill that’s needed to stave off a partial government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. McCarthy has yet to unify his members amid deep disagreements about how much the federal government should spend and what policy restrictions should be included in full-year bills as well as the stopgap measure. The ongoing dispute has ground the House chamber to a halt as McCarthy searches for a way to unify his razor-thin majority without turning to Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill. Arkansas Republican Rep. Steve Womack, a senior appropriator, said Thursday that his fellow lawmakers need to accept the Senate will re-work any partisan bills the House sends over. “Remember, this is all going to go to the Senate, so people don’t need to get real hot and bothered over where we are today,” Womack said. “It’s going to be based on what comes back and whether or not it can get to the floor.” Discussions among House Republicans, he said, are likely to become “heated” once the Senate re-works a short-term spending bill and sends it back to the House for a final approval vote. Infighting and political differences within the House Republican Conference have so far prevented GOP lawmakers from reaching agreement on their opening offer on a short-term spending bill, which is also called a continuing resolution or CR. Defense spending bill falters Before the Thursday vote, McCarthy had been somewhat optimistic the House could finally approve the rule and begin debate on the full-year Defense spending measure. Greene wrote on X that she switched her vote “because they refused to take the war money for Ukraine out and put it in a separate bill.” The rule approved 184 amendments for floor debate and votes, including one from Florida’s Matt Gaetz that would have prohibited “security assistance for Ukraine.” Crane wrote on X on Thursday that he believes votes “on CRs, omnibus bills and raising the debt ceiling should never take place.” “I’m going to do whatever I can to change the way this place works,” he wrote. Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, chair of the Rules Committee, switched his vote on Thursday to a no vote after voting yes a few minutes earlier. The procedural maneuver allows him to bring the rule back up for a vote at a later time. The whip count error appeared to be a surprise for Defense Appropriations Chair Ken Calvert, a California Republican; ranking member Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat; and staff — all of whom were seated at the tables on the House floor ready to lead debate on the measure. The Republican table held thick white binders as well as a large accordion folder, all filled with paperwork, and the Democratic table was stacked with paperwork as well. It’s highly unlikely that staff would have brought all the materials needed to debate the bill and amendments if they knew the rule vote was going to fail. ‘At least a short-term shutdown’ In addition to strong disagreement among House Republicans about the full-year spending bills, the House GOP Conference has yet to solidify a plan to pass the short-term stopgap spending bill that’s needed to hold off a funding lapse. Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, chair of the Interior-Environment spending subcommittee, said he expects there will be “at least a short-term shutdown” as the House and Senate try to reach agreement on a short-term spending bill. “That’s a lot of work to do in a very short time,” Simpson said. House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, said Thursday that he hasn’t seen details on any new short-term spending bills that might come to the floor. “I haven’t seen the language of any additional CR,” he said. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, the top Republican on the Commerce-Justice-Science spending panel, said he’s “hoping the House chaos is set aside.” “I keep saying I’m not voting for another CR again, but I keep voting for them because the outcome is worse with a shutdown,” Moran said. “But this just needs to be resolved in the House. I don’t think there’s a problem in the Senate that would cause a shutdown.” Any short-term spending bill will have to be bipartisan in order to get through the Democratically controlled Senate, where at least 60 votes are needed to limit debate on legislation. That could take more time than lawmakers have before Oct. 1, he said. “Nothing about this is conducive to getting
House Republicans amend the NDAA addressing Tommy Tuberville’s concerns
On Thursday, Congressional Republicans added several partisan amendments to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, including one overturning the DoD policy on abortions. The amended NDAA passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday. President Joe Biden said it is “irresponsible” for U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville to block the confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel for service members and their dependents to go out of state to get an abortion in state’s that have banned or restricted elective abortions. “He’s jeopardizing U.S. security by what he’s doing,” Biden said of Sen. Tommy Tuberville. “It’s just totally irresponsible, in my view.” Biden had demanded that Republicans address the Tuberville issue. “I expect the Republican Party to stand up — stand up and do something about it,” Biden continued. “The idea that we don’t have a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the idea that we have all these promotions that are in abeyance right now and we don’t know what’s going to happen, the idea they were injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what in fact is a domestic social debate on social issues, is bizarre. I don’t ever recall it happening, ever. And it’s just totally irresponsible, in my view.” “I’m confident that the mainstream Republican Party no longer, does not support what he’s doing, but they got to stand up and be counted,” Biden said. “That’s how it ends.” House Republicans responded Thursday by amending the NDAA on the House floor. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) prohibiting the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services 221 – 213. Only two Republicans voted against including Jackson’s abortion amendment. The House also passed several other GOP priorities. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) that prohibits TRICARE from covering and the Department of Defense from furnishing sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals 222 – 211. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) prohibiting the provision of gender transition procedures, including surgery or medication, through the Exceptional Family Member Program 222 to 210. The House passed an amendment to prohibit federal funds from being used to establish a position within the Department of Defense for anything similar to Chief Diversity Officers or Senior Advisors for Diversity and Inclusion 217 – 212. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) prohibiting the Department of Defense Education Activity schools from purchasing and having pornographic and radical gender ideology books in their libraries. The House passed an amendment by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) that requires a study and report on health conditions arising in members of the Armed Forces after the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine by a voice vote. Rep. Boebert proposed an amendment prohibiting Defense Department schools from having “pornographic and radical gender ideology books in their libraries.” That passed 222-209. Rep. Norman’s amendment to ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Department of Defense was narrowly adopted 214-213 on the second vote. An amendment from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Arizona) prohibiting the Pentagon from requiring training in certain “race-based concepts” was adopted 214-210. Not all amendments passed. A series of five proposals to limit U.S. involvement in Ukraine failed. An amendment from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) to prohibit using federal funds for training on diversity, equity, and inclusion was rejected Thursday in a 210-221 vote. The House rejected an amendment from Reps. Davidson and Chip Roy (R-Texas) that “expresses a sense of Congress that the U.S. should not continue subsidizing NATO member countries who choose not to invest in their own defense by meeting” established financial contribution targets. The vote was 212-218, with two Democrats voting to support the measure and eight Republicans voting against it. An amendment to prohibit the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine was rejected 147-276-2. 98 Republicans and 49 Democrats voted in favor, and 121 Republicans and 155 Democrats voted against. The House rejected an amendment prohibiting using federal funds to rename military bases. The Republican changes to the NDAA meant that it lost Democratic support in the final vote. Democrats denounced the amendment as a cruel, harmful amendment to roll back a DoD policy helping service women travel to get the reproductive health care they need, putting the health and lives of over 230,000 women in uniform at risk. Democrats also denounced amendments that strip medically-necessary care for LGBTQ+ service members. Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL07) voted against the NDAA due to the Republican changes on the floor. “For the past 62 years, Republicans and Democrats have come together to craft bipartisan defense authorization bills that would support our troops and strengthen our national security,” said Rep. Sewell. “But this year, rather than continuing that essential tradition, Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy has caved to the most extreme members of his party and allowed the radical right wing to poison the defense bill with culture war provisions that would undermine our military readiness and harm our service members.” “I did not take this vote lightly,” continued Sewell. “I have proudly voted in favor of the annual defense bill every year since coming to Congress. But I cannot and will not support a bill that would rip basic health care away from our service members and make bigotry and discrimination a centerpiece of our defense policy. Republicans need to stop playing politics with our national security.” The NDAA authorizes funding levels for the Department of Defense (DoD) and allows the Armed Forces to pay, train, and equip U.S. service members, support America’s allies worldwide, and carry out essential national security operations. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts), and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-California) released a joint statement after the chamber approved a number of conservative amendments to the NDAA. “Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” the Democratic trio wrote in a joint statement. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com
