Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) will vote against the rule package for four appropriations bills when it is put up for a vote on Tuesday, citing her opposition to the Ukraine aid in two of the bills, adding to the House’s troubles.
After House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on Friday he would strip a provision from the Department of Defense appropriations bill that provided $300 million to Ukraine for them to train soldiers and hold a separate vote on it, he reversed course on Saturday, telling reporters that it will stay in the bill because the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill also has money for Ukraine in the bill that “became too difficult” to strip it out.
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When telling reporters the funding would stay in, McCarthy said he believed that this would cause Greene to vote no on the rule again if it was still in there — a belief that was confirmed on Sunday.
“I’ve been asking for Ukraine funding to be a standalone vote, not cash hidden inside of other bills. For a moment, it seemed like that would happen. But it didn’t,” Greene said in a statement. “Voting yes on the rule means more money for Ukraine. It’s that simple. No one who wants peace should vote yes on the rule to advance the bills. That’s why I’m a HARD NO on the rules package and a blank check for Ukraine!”
Unlike the Defense Appropriations bill, which makes a direct appropriation to Ukraine, the state and foreign operations bill doesn’t provide a specific dollar amount.
While there would be amendment votes on both defense and state and foreign operations appropriations bills to strip the Ukraine aid out of the bill, the House might not get the opportunity to vote on those amendments if Republican members shoot down the rule and prevent the bill from advancing.
The state and foreign operations and defense appropriations bills are lumped together with two other spending bills — the agriculture and homeland appropriations bills. Leadership had hoped that by lumping the four bills together, it could provide a path to start debating the appropriations bills after conservative holdouts blocked the defense appropriations bill from coming to the floor twice last week, but they seem to still be facing resistance.
The government is set to shut down on Oct. 1 if Congress can’t pass either all 12 appropriations bills or a continuing resolution before then. And, with it being impossible to pass all 12 bills before next Sunday, a continuing resolution is the only option left.
But, at least nine House Republicans oppose the Republican-only continuing resolution leadership put forward last week, even though it cut spending and had border security provisions in it, and they also oppose a clean continuing resolution, something the Senate is expected to send over sometime next week.
McCarthy and his allies had wanted to pass a conservative continuing resolution in an attempt to strengthen their hand in any negotiations with the Senate, but the holdouts to the bill prevented them from doing so.
Because of this, Leadership had also hoped that by putting these four appropriations bills on the floor next week — two of which slash spending — it could convince some of the holdouts to vote for a continuing resolution, but that effort has also not proven successful.
Just this weekend, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) said they still oppose a continuing resolution. And without the ability to pass spending bills or a continuing resolution, the government is heading for a shutdown.
House GOP Leadership has also been caught off guard when members vote down a rule, as some members change their votes unexpectedly.
“I’ve seen some people before, and when crunch times come, they are telling me one thing and walk on the floor they do some else because they have some other plan,” McCarthy said. “I think there are a few people that want to take it all down, right? For different reasons, different reasons. I just do not believe 99.9% of the Republicans want that. I don’t think that’s productive.”
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On Saturday, during a private House GOP member-only call, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer urged his members to let him and his team know if they plan to vote “no” on a procedural motion such as a rule so they can know where they stand. He also tried to convince members not to vote against a rule.
“We cannot operate as a team if we can’t pass procedural motions,” Emmer said on the call.
