House Republicans are moving ahead with their plan to avoid a government shutdown after funding elapses on February 8, but their measure is unlikely to get Democratic support.
House Republicans will most likely vote on Tuesday on a short-term bill to fund the government through March 23. However, their measure includes a full year’s defense funding, which according to aides is intended to give the GOP leadership an opportunity to pass the bill only with Republican votes.
This represents a must for defense hawks who have been concerned that the Pentagon operates solely on a short-term-funding-bill-to-short-term funding bill basis, CNN writes.
“We have to break this logjam some way,” Representative Greg Walden, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said he agreed with the strategy and a number of other Republican lawmakers also expressed support for the package, which they hope will be passed Tuesday.
The measure would also include two years of funding for community health centers, which has been a bipartisan priority for some time. However, the bill isn’t likely to pass in the Senate, aides say. It is rather a new attempt by Republicans to push a vote on the full defense appropriations measure and put pressure on the Senate to take action.
“It’s the only way we can get to 218 votes when the Democrats won’t give any votes” on the continuing resolutions, said Michigan Republican Representative Bill Huizenga.
Nonetheless, Senate Democrats have been adamant that they won’t accept a short-term funding bill which provides full defense funding. According to Republican Senator Roy Blunt, it is possible that House bill omits defense funding.
“I think it may include a few other things. Maybe community health centers, maybe some sort of disaster — I think there’s a series of a half a dozen things, any combination of which might go on and I expect at least one or two of them would,” he said.
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