Voices: Government funding goes down to the wire – again

As it grapples with the aftermath of the midterm election results and the Georgia Senate runoff, Congress has an urgent task on its hands. Lawmakers need to pass legislation to keep the government open, an issue that has long loomed in the background.

Democrats want to pass what’s called an omnibus spending bill, wherein multiple parts of the government are funded for a year. But Republicans, who just about clawed back control of the House of Representatives last month, would prefer a one-year continuing resolution (commonly referred to as a CR) that would let them use the next Congress to shape government funding according to their own priorities.

This is playing out somewhat differently in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where clearer heads are currently prevailing.

“My main concern is we’re going to make sure that from my perspective, we keep this country safe,” Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told The Independent on Monday evening. “We don’t waste a bunch of money with a long-term CR.”

Specifically, he said he wants funding for the PACT Act, which ensures veterans who suffered health complications from burn pits receive health benefits, as well as for the CHIPS and Science Act that Congress passed earlier this year.

Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters he’s more optimistic this week than he was last week about the possibility of passing an omnibus spending bill.

“I think a lot of parties want to get there,” he said. “For example, I want to fund defense, I want to fund our veterans. Other people want to fund various programs. But the main thing is, fund the government from a shutdown.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Monday that the Senate should prepare to vote on a one-week continuing resolution to give negotiators more time to work out a full omnibus spending bill.

“The benefits of an omnibus are as many as the number of citizens in America,” he declared in a floor speech. “All of us are better off when the government is fully equipped to provide vital services millions rely on.”

Mr Shelby, who is retiring at the end of this year and who is prolific in his ability to bring projects back to his home state, told reporters that appropriators would need four or five days to put together an omnibus.

“I mean, people could work around the clock. And they will work both sides, that’s a lot of work,” he said, adding that it is possible that the Senate could be working until 22 or even 23 December. “But that’s up to leadership.”

What no one is keen to voice is the fear that the House Republican conference – far more conservative than their Senate counterparts – could issue unrealistic demands in an omnibus spending bill once they take control of the lower chamber. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has yet to secure a majority of votes to win the speaker vote on 3 January,  and to lock up the top job, he needs to please even the most extreme members of his conference.

Emily Brooks at The Hill reported how seven House Republicans who have withheld their support for Mr McCarthy have outlined their demands in the last week. Among their number is Representative Chip Roy, who served as Senator Ted Cruz’s chief of staff when Mr Cruz shut down the government in 2013 in an attempt to defund Obamacare.

After evening votes on Monday, The Independent overheard him explaining to a reporter why he disliked the idea of letting an omnibus through. Specifically, he said he disliked the idea of Republicans agreeing to a nine per cent hike in non-defense discretionary spending – money that Congress must appropriate every year, as opposed to mandatory spending.

“That would be indescribably stupid for even an indescribably stupid Senate,” he said. Specifically, he said it was absurd to allow Democrats to write spending into next year as a favor to Mr Shelby.

“We’re certainly have a lot of conversations with our friends over in the Senate about in what universe this would make any sense – to let Democrats do what we’ve never done after you’ve had a transition like we just have in the House and say, oh, yeah, let’s let them write the spending into next year so what, we can send Richard Shelby off with some frickin’ flowers? It’s just stupid.”