House Republican leaders will allow floor votes on two amendments to the $1.2 trillion funding package they are trying to pass Thursday, including proposals to nix some earmarks and block enforcement of vehicle “kill switch” technology.
The House Rules Committee voted Thursday morning to set up floor action on the four bills top appropriators released this week following a bipartisan, bicameral breakthrough on funding for the vast majority of the federal government, including the Pentagon and the largest domestic agencies.
Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and other Midwestern lawmakers had threatened to block movement of the funding package without an agreement to approve year-round sale of E15, an ethanol-laden gasoline blend.
After late-night negotiations, GOP leaders agreed to set up a congressional working group focused on ethanol policy. The group would be created as part of the procedural measure the House will vote on to tee up debate on the spending bills.
According to four people privy to the agreement granted anonymity to discuss it, the holdouts also believe they will get a vote on ethanol policy by late February, as POLITICO previously reported.
The House will not vote on amendments to the DHS funding bill, which will get a stand-alone vote under the GOP plan. Republican leaders could struggle to pass that legislation since nearly all House Democrats are expected to vote no. To create pressure on lawmakers to pass all four bills, the three measures funding other federal agencies will not be sent to the Senate until the House passes the DHS measure.
The two amendment votes will be allowed on the three-bill package that funds the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Transportation.
The Rules Committee also approved language that will, upon passage, combine the four bills with another two-bill funding package the House passed last week. House leaders hope that will make it easier for the Senate to swiftly clear the funding for President Donald Trump’s signature next week ahead of the Jan. 30 government shutdown deadline.
GOP leaders chose not to use the procedural vote on the funding bills to extend a self-imposed ban on votes challenging Trump’s tariffs before it expires at month’s end. A band of rank-and-file Republicans warned leadership they would vote against any such effort.
