Congress Begins Annual August Break, Budget Work Continues

Members of Congress begin their annual August break knowing that they’ll be in a difficult — perhaps unwinnable — race to avoid a government shutdown once they get back in September.

Since the debt ceiling crisis was resolved roughly two months ago, lawmakers have been occupied primarily with appropriations work and both chambers can point to real progress: the House has moved all 12 appropriations bills out of committee and passed one of them -- Military Construction and Veterans Affairs -- on the floor, while the Senate has also moved all 12 bills out of committee with strong bipartisan support.

Still, there's much more work to do before the new fiscal year begins October 1.

"This is the first year, it’s my understanding, in some time that we are trying to put through 12 separate appropriations bills," said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5), a new member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Moving the appropriations bills individually -- what many refer to as 'regular order' -- was one of the primary demands of the members of the Freedom Caucus when the new Republican majority was deciding who would be Speaker at the beginning of the session.

They and many other Republicans felt strongly it was important to get back to doing budgets as the 1974 Budget Control Act dictates and not rely on the use of last-minute, massive omnibus spending packages that are often crafted by leadership and allow little or no opportunity for amendment.

Rep. Bice says the process is methodical but worthwhile.

"You’re really getting a good perspective of every single committee and how they’re drafting language that really meets the needs of this Congress," said Bice in an interview last week, "and I support this process as it stands currently."

The potential problem is that the same Freedom Caucus has also forced House appropriators to adopt spending levels that, in several cases, are well below the limits Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) negotiated with President Biden in debt limit deal.

Meanwhile, the appropriations bills moving through the Democrat-controlled Senate all stick closely to the upper limit of the agreement, raising the question if either side will be willing to compromise.

What's more, hardline conservatives in the House have also added in policy measures to several of the bills that won't fly with Democrats and even with some moderate Republicans.

It will be hard enough for each chamber to pass their respective spending bills in the limited time they'll have in September once they've returned, it seems even more unlikely that conferees would then be able to reach a compromise on each bill, considering wide gap that exists between them, both in funding levels and policies.

At a news conference last week, Freedom Caucus members indicated they won't be inclined to compromise.

"Our speaker has an opportunity to be a transformational historical speaker," said Rep. Bobo Good (R-VA), "that stares down the Democrats, that stares down the free-spenders, that stares down the president and said, 'No, we're gonna do what the American people elected us to do.' And the House is gonna say, no, we're gonna pass a good Republican bill out of the House and force the Senate and the White House to accept it, or we're not gonna move forward."

Congressman Good went on: "We should not fear a government shutdown...most of the American people won't even miss if the government is shut down temporarily."

That sentiment is certainly not shared by all of Good's GOP colleagues.

Many of those most directly involved in the appropriations process will continue to work on it during the break.