House starts 6-week recess early due to failed agreement.
The House Begins 6-Week Recess Early After Failing to Reach Agreement
The House of Representatives broke for its six-week recess one day early on Thursday, leaving unresolved differences over the agriculture spending bill that were not going to be resolved in time for a hoped-for Friday vote.
In addition to differences over spending, a Republican rift has emerged over an effort to attach legislation to the budget bill that would overturn a Biden administration rule allowing the abortion pill mifepristone to be mailed or sold in drug stores, according to Axios. The agriculture bill also includes funding for agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise acknowledged the ongoing negotiations, stating, “There’s members that want to do deeper cuts. There’s other members who have been vocal that they won’t support the bill under deeper cuts. So we’re still having some fun on negotiations,” according to the Washington Examiner.
Passing the budget before the beginning of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 seems unlikely, as the House does not return until Sept. 18. However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy expressed confidence that it will happen, stating, “[W]e’ve got to get in the room, we’ll talk, we’re making great progress,” according to Axios.
On-time federal budgets are rare, often leading to the passage of continuing resolutions to keep the government running. The FY 2023 budget, which took effect last Oct. 1, did not receive final congressional passage until Dec. 23, according to The New York Times.
Some House Republicans are willing to change the game and face a shutdown at the end of September, with Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia stating, “We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of what we do up here is bad anyway,” according to CNN.
Republican Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia summarized the debate over the agriculture bill, stating, “The bill is not eliminating as much wasteful spending as it could. And we’ve identified additional areas and provided suggestions where those savings can be found,” according to the Examiner.
The abortion proposal further adds to the differences among House Republicans, with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York stating, “I have said from the very beginning that I would not support legislation that would ban abortion nationwide. To me, some of these issues that are being dealt with should be dealt with at the state level, and that’s it. Some states allow it to be mailed; some states don’t. But that should be a decision with the states and the FDA,” he said.
While the House debates cuts, the Democrat-controlled Senate is moving forward with higher spending levels, which means that sooner or later, the two different versions will collide until the House and Senate can agree, as noted by Axios.
One new wrinkle this year is that if the negotiations for a new budget drag on past Jan. 1, discretionary spending is cut by 1 percent.
On Thursday, the House did pass a bill funding military construction and veterans affairs by a vote of 219-211, according to CNN.
Source: The Western Journal
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