5 sticking points in the fight to avert a shutdown

Lawmakers are rushing to agree on six final government funding bills, but face numerous hurdles as they head toward Friday’s shutdown deadline.

A divided Congress just finished initial work on a fiscal year 2024 funding bill last week. But some negotiators believe the tranche, which targets government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be the toughest yet.

Here are five spending battles to keep an eye on as negotiations continue.

homeland security

Negotiators on both sides of the aisle view the annual homeland security appropriations bill as the one most challenged lawmakers want to pass next week.

Partisan divisions on the border and immigration, key issues heading into the November election, make the bill particularly unwieldy.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told The Hill on Tuesday that the DHS funding bill is “the most difficult bill we’ve ever seen,” while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, “Homeland is by far the toughest bill.” There are 6 unpaid invoices.

As Republicans push for a border wall and reinstatement of the controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy, some lawmakers are already wondering if they may need to pass a stopgap measure to buy time to negotiate the bill. Are concerned.

Pressed about the possibility of further stopgap, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), chairman of the subcommittee that crafts the Department of Homeland Security’s annual funding bill, told The Hill earlier this week that He said as follows. meet. “

“We’ll get there eventually. Right now, it’s just dollars and cents.”

Last month, Joyce discussed some of the challenges appropriators face when trying to craft a DHS funding bill.

“Some of the dollars that we have been allocated are; [securing] Democrats are leaning toward more policies, including securing the border, creating more detention beds, and improving the use of technology. [nongovernmental organizations] and make it easier to process people at the border and asylum claims,” he said at the time. “There’s a bit of a dilemma there.”

earmark

The passage of the first round of funding bills last week highlighted deep divisions among Republicans in both chambers over how lawmakers spend money earmarked for local community projects.

Some Republican negotiators say the issue is already emerging as an issue in the next bill, particularly around the annual HHS funding bill, which also covers funding for the Departments of Labor and Education.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a spending cardinal, told The Hill last week that “Democrats in the Senate have voters, but Republicans don’t have allies.” “We passed rules that don’t allow that, and that makes it very difficult because there’s nothing that can be swapped back and forth, and some of the Democratic candidates are more likely than some members of Congress would like to do. Because they tend to be liberal.”

Conservatives in the Senate last week threatened to hold up the so-called minibus that includes the first six funding bills, citing opposition to the roughly 6,000 funding bills, among other problems they have with the bill.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), who chairs the House subcommittee that provides annual funding for HHS, told The Hill this week that some of the problems Republicans have with the budget are: He said that he touches on areas such as “hormone therapy.”

But Democrats, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who heads the Senate subcommittee, have strongly opposed the Republican-led effort.

“The basic rule is, don’t touch the spending Congress has directed you to do,” Baldwin said. “We don’t want to be in a situation in the future where people are working hard to secure funding for well-vetted community projects, and then another senator rips away funding. ”

UNRWA

Republicans have stepped up their calls to block further funding to the main Palestinian relief agency after allegations that some of its staff took part in Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel last October.

The issue has emerged as a major sticking point in bipartisan talks over the State Department’s annual funding bill, which would provide funding to the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), negotiators said.

Democrats have shown openness to new conditions for funding the agency. But many reject calls to block funding altogether, arguing there is no alternative that could provide the same aid to Gaza, where nearly 2 million people have fled.

At the same time, prominent Republicans are opposing the funding.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate subcommittee that oversees State Department funding, vowed in remarks from the floor Thursday that he would not support any legislation that would provide more funding.

“With the bill I support, not a penny will go into UNRWA,” Graham said.

election security

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), chairman of the House subcommittee on the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) annual funding bill, said election security remains among the challenges that threaten future legislation. He said it remains.

House Republicans called on partisan lines to eliminate funding for election security subsidies last year’s proposalBut Senate negotiators asked for $75 million for the item in an initial proposal that passed out of committee on a bipartisan basis. support in summer.

Asked about the issue Thursday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the spending cardinal on the FSGG appropriations subcommittee, said negotiators were “still trying to finalize large portions of the funding.” “I am doing so,” he said.

Womack also mentioned other areas where it is difficult to find agreement in subcommittee funding negotiations, such as the IRS and FBI.

“There [is] These bills have the language we wanted and are still being negotiated,” he said. “So there are definitely some unanswered questions.”

Member of Parliament remuneration

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), chairman of the subcommittee that crafts the annual legislative funding bill, said he also wants a vote that would allow for a pay increase for lawmakers.

Although he noted that the legislative funding bill passed by House Republicans last year upheld a long-standing ban on annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), he told The Hill a few weeks ago that “lawmakers are “I want the opportunity to vote,” he said. ”

“If you think it’s political kryptonite, vote no,” he said. “And if you love the 27th Amendment, or if you’re tired of going 13 years with nothing. [pay]Then vote for it and defend it with your constituents. ”

But Sen. Jack Reed (D.R.I.), who heads the same Senate subcommittee, appeared to question the effort’s chances of success Thursday.

“I don’t think so at this point,” Reed told The Hill when asked about possible changes in that area in the next bill. “Constitutionally, it probably won’t go into effect in the next Congress anyway.”

“But let’s see. I mean, that’s one of the questions that gets thrown around,” Reid added.