See you in September

The House of Representatives left for its August recess following an expedited appropriations process in June and July. After receiving the Trump administration’s budget very late (May 23), the House Appropriations Committee still managed to report out all 12 annual appropriations bills by July 19. That is a noteworthy accomplishment.

What followed was more complicated.

Some House members wished to bring all 12 appropriations bills to the House floor before leaving for the recess. Their plan was to combine all the bills into one big package – an omnibus appropriations bill.

While this approach would have given members the right to say they completed the House’s responsibility to pass appropriations, it proved to be a bridge too far from a practical perspective.

House Republican leadership polled its members on their support for such a bill, and found that too many of them could not commit to voting for its passage. Some members were worried about unwelcome amendments to the bill that could pass, others were worried about what might be in the more than 1,600 pages of the base bill.

The House instead moved forward with a smaller bill – one that included appropriations for Defense, Energy and Water Development, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and the Legislative Branch (the bill also included money for border fencing and wall construction for the Department of Homeland Security). This “Make America Secure Appropriations Act” was approved by the House by a largely partisan vote of 235 to 192 (five Democrats voted in favor of the bill and five Republicans voted against it).

Over 300 amendments were submitted by members who wanted changes to the bill. Of those, 126 amendments were allowed by the rule governing how the House considered the bill.

The eight appropriations bills that were not included in this smaller package would have drawn many more amendments. The Department of State-Foreign Operations bill and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill haven’t been considered for amendment in the House since 2009. These bills alone potentially would have had hundreds of amendments submitted due to the controversial and partisan issues within them.

But there may still be an opportunity for House members to have a shot at the remaining bills. House Republican leadership signaled that these eight bills will come before the House in September. They could even try to combine them into another big appropriations package.

An impediment to getting that done is time. There are only 12 legislative days available in September, providing little time for a lengthy debate on a massive appropriations package with hundreds of amendments.

There are other must-do items for the House to take up, including passage of a continuing resolution before September 30 to keep the government running. Other possible items on the agenda include the budget resolution, the debt ceiling, tax reform, another attempt at health care, reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, an overall budget agreement to change the spending caps, and more.

There also may simply be less interest among House members in taking up another big appropriations bill. The hope had been to pass a 12-bill package before leaving Washington for the August recess so that members could have something significant to brag about during the five weeks in their districts. That incentive lessens after the recess.

Other possibilities are a smaller package comprised of two or three appropriations bills or a plan to take one or two bills to the floor individually. The Interior and Environment bill and the Financial Services/General Government bill are likely candidates since they include provisions of interest to many House Republican members. Another option is to immediately start work on a continuing resolution.

Appropriations will eventually get done even if the House doesn’t pass another big multi-bill package. There will need to be lengthy, bipartisan negotiations between the House and Senate to develop a final bill that can pass both houses and be signed by the President.

​This process won’t be easy, and it won’t be pretty. But it will get done.