US House approves first 2024 spending bill, delays a second

[July 28, 2023]  By David Morgan and Josephine Walker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the first of 12 fiscal 2024 spending measures that Congress must enact by Sept. 30 or risk a government shutdown, but Republican infighting over spending levels clouded the path ahead for the other bills.

The House voted 219-211 to approve the $155.7 billion military construction and veterans affairs bill, forwarding it to the Democratic-led Senate, which has already crafted its own version of the legislation.

House Republican leaders had expected to pass two spending bills ahead of a six-week August recess. But disagreements over spending between Republican hardline conservatives and moderates forced them to delay consideration of a $25.3 billion spending bill covering agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration until September.

House lawmakers, who began departing Washington on Thursday, were due to return on Sept. 12, leaving them only three weeks to enact the remaining 11 appropriations bills and hammer out compromises with the Senate before current funding expires on Sept. 30.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy brushed aside questions about the delay, telling reporters that Republicans would ultimately pass all 12 appropriations bills on time.

"If we've got to take a couple extra days to go through, it's not til Sept 30. We're going to take that opportunity," the California Republican said.

The House and Senate must each pass identical appropriations bills before they can be signed into law by Democratic President Joe Biden and avert a government shutdown.

McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met to discuss the prospects for compromise spending measures and other legislation on Thursday. The speaker later said they both committed to passing appropriations bills on time and discussed the possibility of early bicameral negotiations.

U.S. Capitol police stand outside the Capitol building as the Senate votes on debt ceiling legislation to avoid a historic default at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement to Reuters that the meeting covered many topics, including appropriations, and "We talked about how we want to work together to get things done."

Schumer's office was not immediately available to comment on the meeting.

With the two chambers at least $120 billion apart, some lawmakers expect Congress to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1 by passing a stopgap measure that would give lawmakers time to negotiate into the fall and winter.

With Democrats opposed to House Republican spending bills, McCarthy can afford to lose no more than four votes from his 222-212 majority.

Republican hardliners from the House Freedom Caucus have pressured party leaders to keep 2024 spending at a fiscal 2022 level of $1.47 trillion, well below the $1.59 trillion McCarthy agreed to with Biden in June.

Hardliners are concerned that party leaders would use $115 billion in rescissions of previously allocated spending to prop up the 2024 level.

But Republican moderates have warned that hardline insistence on further cuts, an abortion pill restriction and work requirements for assistance programs could erode their support for the agriculture bill, which contains about $7.5 billion in rescissions.

(Reporting by David Morgan and Josephine Walker; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Marguerita Choy and Daniel Wallis)

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