The House is one step closer to passing the final slate of appropriations bills after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) successfully staved off rebellions from his center and right flanks, setting up the legislation for a final vote later this afternoon.
The chamber cleared a key hurdle on Thursday when House Republicans voted to bring four appropriations bills to the floor for debate, setting up their passage later in the day. The 214-213 margin showed the difficulty of governing with a slim majority where any one ideological caucus has the power to sink a bill.
Johnson has been struggling with GOP attendance, and a handful of Republicans, such as Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), were absent for the vote. A mix of Republicans — including Reps. Zach Nunn (R-IA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), and Andy Harris (R-MD) — held off on voting as they held discussions with the speaker.
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) was a “no” vote for a majority of the time but ultimately flipped.
Just bringing the legislation to the floor was a complicated task for House GOP leadership. Fiscal hawks have long been a thorn in Johnson’s side, with many of them helping block other bills from coming to the floor in the speaker’s nearly two-year tenure.
To push the appropriations bills out of the Rules Committee and make sure they would not fail on the floor, leaders agreed to give conservatives two amendment votes. One amendment was from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Scott Perry (R-PA) regarding “kill switch” vehicle technology, the other from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) that prohibited funds to certain community funding projects, or earmarks.
But surprising pushback on the minibus came from midwestern centrists, who demanded a provision in the bill requiring a year-round sale of 15% ethanol, or E15.
The issue is a major policy stance for Midwest states and farming communities, and GOP lawmakers have been pushing for a year-round sale for years.
About a dozen midwestern Republicans pressed the issue with Johnson this week, threatening to oppose the rule unless a provision was added to the appropriations “minibus.” They argued President Donald Trump promised to increase the sale of E15, with key farm groups meeting with White House officials on Wednesday to get the administration on board, per Politico.
To appease the midwesterners, the Rules Committee inserted language in the measure that, upon passing, would immediately create an E15 Rural Domestic Energy Council that would negotiate the sale of E15 and other energy policy areas, including oil and gas, among other things.
Reps. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) and Randy Feenstra (R-IA) will chair the council, the Washington Examiner confirmed.
The appropriations legislation will now get a final vote late Thursday. There will be two separate votes: one for the Homeland Security funding bill and another for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security.
Democrats demanded a separate vote on the DHS bill, given the party’s uproar over recent actions taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democratic leadership will vote against the bill and relayed that message to their caucus — despite Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee agreeing to cut $115 million from ICE operations.
GOP lawmakers also signed off on reducing the number of detention beds in migrant holding facilities by 5,500 and agreed to earmark $20 million to equip ICE agents with body cameras. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said earlier this week the compromise was needed to “get a deal” and avoid another government shutdown.
Many conservatives, who often oppose funding bills, told the Washington Examiner they had no problem with the cuts to ICE, given that most of the reforms Democrats were pushing to severely restrict the agency didn’t make it into the final product.
“If any of those reforms [had made it in], I’d be a hard no, but with the Working Families Tax Cut, I think it has plenty of money in it for DHS and ICE enforcement,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), chairman of the Freedom Caucus. “So any small cuts are really inconsequential.”
Harris said he’ll vote no on the final passage of the DHS bill because it lacks H-2B visas, which were a priority for his district.
Despite widespread opposition to the DHS bill on the Democratic side and some grumbling from the GOP, it is likely that a handful of Democrats and most Republicans will vote in favor of the legislation. The three other appropriations bills for defense, labor, and transportation are expected to pass easily.
Three other appropriations bills have been signed into law by Trump already. The Senate passed a three-bill appropriations legislation for commerce, justice, and science last week, but the president has not yet signed it. Senators will return from recess next week and must pass the six bills — financial services, national security, DHS, defense, labor, and transportation — before government funding runs out on Jan. 30.
Passing those bills may become more complicated after a vote taken in the House Thursday morning, which inserted a provision in the rule to repeal the law allowing senators to sue for $500,000 over former special counsel Jack Smith’s “Arctic Frost” phone records collection.
MIKE JOHNSON ENDORSES IMPEACHING JUDGES BLOCKING TRUMP POLICIES
The Senate jammed the House with that provision in the legislation they sent over to the lower chamber to end the record-breaking government shutdown, angering many Republicans and causing a rift between Johnson and Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
House GOP leadership said at the time they were not aware of the Senate including the provision, with Johnson saying he was, in turn, “frustrated.” To appease conservatives who sought to derail the bill to end the shutdown, the House voted to repeal that law in November last year. Thune has not seemed inclined to put the bill on the floor, saying at the time that the records collection “demands some accountability.”