House GOP Looks to Sweeten Spending Deal for Conservatives

• January 16 2018
• Anna Edgerton

GOP leaders in the House are testing whether rank-and-file Republicans will support a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open that also would delay some Obamacare taxes and provide money for a children’s health insurance program, according to a Re…

GOP leaders in the House are testing whether rank-and-file Republicans will support a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open that also would delay some Obamacare taxes and provide money for a children’s health insurance program, according to a Republican aide.

The plan indicates House Speaker Paul Ryan and his team are trying to push through a plan to finance government operations through Feb. 19 without having to count on support from Democrats in the House.

House leaders are checking with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to gauge what provision could survive in that chamber, where the Republicans have a narrower majority, according to the aide, who spoke on condition on anonymity because the deliberations are private.

GOP leaders don’t expect to have enough time to get a deal on a broader fiscal plan that would raise caps on defense and domestic spending. That means the clock would start ticking again for them to deliver topline funding levels needed to write an omnibus spending bill for the rest of the fiscal year.

Republicans’ slim 51-49 Senate majority means they need at least nine Democratic votes to pass a stopgap funding measure. The GOP is counting on support from some Democrats, including from among the 10 who are up for election in November in states won by Trump.

Democratic Votes

One of those, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, already declared his support for a spending bill that doesn’t include extra policies. Senators have not yet weighed in on the House’s proposal, since it will be presented to House members after Tuesday night’s votes.

Another Democratic Senator from a Trump-friendly state, Joe Donnelly, of Indiana, said he is “still looking at the process” for the continuing resolution that will need to pass both chamber this week.

Democrats have said they see Friday as the deadline to proceed with an immigration deal and the other policy measures which they have described as one package of demands. Republican leaders insist that the immigration debate be handled entirely outside the spending package, and that more time may be needed to resolve both matters.

Both sides say they want a two-year deal to raise the budget caps to avoid another spending standoff next year. Lawmakers agree that defense spending should be raised above the $549 billion cap created by a 2011 law and that domestic spending can be raised above the $516 billion limit. But there is still disagreement over how much to raise each cap, how to pay for the increases, and which programs should benefit.

— With assistance by John Fitzpatrick