2023-09-23 21:35:16
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee voted 9-2 on Saturday to present four budget bills for debate on the floor, in yet another move by Republicans to prevent the government from suffer stoppages after the deadline of September 30th.
The committee’s decision in an unusual Saturday session sets rules for debating four fiscal year 2024 bills to fund the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, State and Homeland Security.
It is not yet known how many Republicans will vote on the House floor in favor of the rules, which need to be established before the house can consider the bills themselves.
Disputes between far-right Republicans and moderates have so far frustrated attempts to pass most of the legislation that would keep the government running after the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. Republicans have a small majority in the Chamber, 221 to 212 votes, and can accept few “betrayals” to win the votes.
Passage of a spending bill will be necessary in the short term to prevent many federal agencies from suspending operations at a time when existing funds will expire within a week. A group of far-right Republicans are fighting the bill, as they see it as an endorsement of excessive government spending.
“Talking about an RC (continuing resolution) is very premature,” said Republican Rep. Andy Ogles, outside the House Rules Committee meeting. “We have a task at hand, which is to approve 12 budget projects, and that is what we have to focus on.”
Instead, Republicans prepared four different separate bills that were certain to be rejected by the Democratic-majority Senate. So far, the House has approved only one of 12 budget bills for the fiscal year, something the Senate did not plan to analyze.
“The goal is to try to move forward with as many bills as possible to show good faith with both sides of the Republican caucus,” said Marc Molinaro, a moderate Republican.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the House could move forward on the four bills on Tuesday as it seeks influence in negotiations with the Senate. He hopes the bills will give him enough room to move forward with another, short-term spending bill to keep the government running until Oct. 31, although some Republicans oppose a short-term funding bill.
If Congress cannot reach agreement on a spending plan, government activities will be discontinued or limited.
(Reporting by Makini Brice)
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