GOP seeks to avoid drama in spending battle

House Republicans are chugging through an ambitious spending bill schedule while so far avoiding the tense intraparty battles over appropriations that brought the chamber to a standstill multiple times last year.

The shift is a reflection of the House GOP largely accepting — or having no viable alternative to — the tactical approach favored by the hard-line conservative wing of the conference that was at the center of the turmoil in the past: pass the most conservative bill possible in the slim GOP majority, and worry about negotiating with the Democratic-controlled Senate later.

On the docket this week are bills to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and foreign operations, and the Department of Defense. Republican leaders hope to approve all 12 annual funding bills by the August recess.

The bills have virtually no chance of becoming law in the face of opposition from the Senate and White House, both of which are controlled by Democrats. But 18 months into a tumultuous Congress that’s been defined by Republican infighting — including the unprecedented toppling of a House Speaker by conservative agitators — GOP leaders are eager to demonstrate they have the governing chops to unite their factious conference and move major legislation to keep the government open ahead of November’s elections.

Republicans struggled to rally their troops on the funding bills last year, passing only seven of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the current fiscal year. That infuriated conservatives and undermined the party’s leverage when it came time to negotiate with Democratic leaders on the bipartisan spending proposals that would eventually become law.

In several dramatic displays of protest, conservatives used procedural maneuvers to halt action on the funding bills.

But the discord that was commonplace for months, with hours-long meetings in the Speaker’s office and open rebellion on the floor, has subsided. That is in large part because this year’s bills are building off the work and compromises they reached last year, hard-liners say.

“Last year was probably the best comb-through of the budget we had had in maybe decades, of really right-sizing these agencies,” said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Another factor pleasing the hard-liners are the conservative policy riders in the bills. The Defense funding bill up this week, for instance, bans the department’s funds from being used on gender-affirming surgeries or hormone therapies.

“A lot of the times the discussion around when it came to spending bills ... from a conservative or not conservative perspective, was just on the dollar figures — which, the dollar figures are important, but the policy is extremely important as well. And so there’s an understanding across our conference that we have to have good policy wins in these,” Cloud said.

There are other factors making this year’s spending debate different than that of 2023.

The personality clash between conservatives and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for instance, dissolved after McCarthy was ejected from power by those same hard-liners.

And by the end of the year, conservatives backed down from insisting on lower combined spending levels in their bills, largely accepting the top-line in the Fiscal Responsibility Act debt ceiling deal that McCarthy struck with President Biden.

GOP leaders also say they will no longer be beholden to budgetary “side deals” from that deal — a major source of hard-liner opposition to spending measures.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who took over as chair of the House Appropriations Committee in April, said last month that his committee’s bills will “adhere to law set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act — with no side deals — and focus resources where they are needed most.”

“I’m pleased we have topline numbers and solid base bills for the ongoing FY25 appropriations process,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said in a statement. “While there’s certainly more work to be done, it’s encouraging to see House Republicans united in rejecting swampy side deals and championing conservative policy riders.”

“We must continue building on our momentum to pass and deliver 12 conservative and fiscally responsible appropriations bills to the American people,” Clyde added.

The proximity of the elections is also playing a role, as even the staunchest conservatives are taking pains to avoid internal fights so close to November, when control of the lower chamber is up for grabs.

House Republicans got off to a good start on their ambitious appropriations schedule in the first week of June, when they successfully passed the first of their 12 spending bills: legislation to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and military construction projects. That package featured a number of conservative social policy riders — including provisions to prevent the VA from expanding abortion access; bar the agency from providing medical benefits to undocumented people; and ban pride flags over its buildings — but also won the support from the moderates. Only two Republicans defected.

That vote reflects the model GOP leaders are gunning for: As they embrace conservative policy riders, leaders are also being attentive to the political needs of more moderate Republicans, particularly those facing tough reelection contests in battleground districts where hard-line social positions would alienate centrist voters. The text of an agricultural funding bill released this year, for instance, does not include a policy rider to nullify a Biden administration rule allowing the abortion pill mifepristone to be sold in retail pharmacies and dispensed by mail — a provision that spurred pushback from moderates last year.

There is still plenty of room for ideological clashes as Republicans press forward on other bills. The Defense, Homeland Security, and foreign operations bills up this week are some of the easiest on which to get widespread agreement.

The tougher battles will likely occur over bills to fund the Health and Human Services Department, where abortion riders will test GOP unity, and the Justice Department, where efforts to defund federal law enforcers could divide the party.

And controversial amendments can always complicate a bill’s passage on the House floor. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), for instance, is leading amendments before the House Rules Committee this week to reduce the salaries of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to $1.

Even if they cannot get everything they want, the fiscal hawks are hoping that they’ve changed the general Republican disposition on appropriations.

“In times past, we’ve seen the left race toward a fiscal cliff. We’ve jogged toward that same fiscal cliff and called that success,” Cloud said. “My position was we should not settle for anything less than at least walking in the right direction. We may not be sprinting right off the bat, but we can’t keep going the wrong direction.”