House Republican leaders are allowing floor votes this week on several proposed tweaks to the latest government funding package after hard-liners demanded more input.
The House Rules Committee voted Tuesday to allow votes on two amendments to the package that would fund the departments of Treasury and State, as well as the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the panel, secured a vote on an amendment that would cut appeals court funding for the District of Columbia by 20 percent and eliminate the budgets of two judges.
The panel’s top Democrat, Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, complained that the sponsors of that amendment didn’t even testify before the committee.
“It seems like this process gets worse and worse and worse,” McGovern said. “Talk about revenge. I mean, we’re going after judges and their staff. … This is not the way this place should be run.”
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C), the panel’s chair, said House Republicans are ensuring the appropriations process is “member-driven and deliberate.”
The House will also vote on an amendment from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) that would bar funding for the National Endowment for Democracy, an independent nonprofit that supports projects around the world with the stated goal of promoting democracy.
