House GOP faces September deadlines despite Freedom Caucus deadlock
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The House GOP's structural problems are colliding all at once, with rank-and-file Republicans bewildered on how things will get back to normal.
Why it matters: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a long list of must-pass priorities ahead of Sept. 30 that will require him to navigate tensions between the different factions of his conference.
- McCarthy has struggled to keep conservative hardliners in line, with a group recently forcing floor action to come to a halt in protest over an array of grievances, including his handling of the debt ceiling.
- House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has announced that legislation pertaining to gas stoves will be brought back to the floor next week, breaking the stalemate. It remains unclear whether frustrated moderates will provide the votes for passage when it comes to the floor.
Looking ahead to September, there's a lot that needs to get done.
Appropriations bills
- Current government funding is set to expire on Sept. 30 and spending levels are teeing up to be an issue. Conservatives want legislation to spend less than the levels agreed upon in the debt ceiling bill.
- The idea of passing bills with lower spending levels than permitted is sparking pushback from moderate Republicans and unlikely to sit well with Democrats.
The farm bill
- Lawmakers will need to hash out an agreement on the five-year measure which provides a safety net to farmers and generally includes language on nutritional programs including SNAP.
- SNAP provisions have been a sticking point for conservatives in the past, but some lawmakers are hopeful the work requirement language passed in the debt ceiling bill will ease the process of getting the legislation to the president’s desk.
FAA reauthorization
- Funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees civil aviation within the U.S. and is responsible for overseeing the National Airspace System, is set to expire on Sept. 30.
- Both the House and Senate plan to draft legislation aimed at strengthening and modernizing the agency, but House Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves told Roll Call he expects the packages to be “very different.”
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act
- Conservatives — who repeatedly slammed government agencies’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic — are likely to push for major reforms to the CDC’s authority over certain areas, Punchbowl News noted.
The Coast Guard
- Congress will need to pass legislation to reauthorize funding for equipment and programs for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The big picture: While conservative hardliners are in agreement that they want to renegotiate parts of the speakership deal, they haven’t publicly said what they want changed.
- That's led to some moderates, furious at the House Freedom Caucus, threaten to embrace the rebels' tactic to shove their own bills to the front of the line.
- Republicans are already bracing for an explosive reaction at the House GOP conference meeting on Tuesday morning.
The bottom line: Multiple Republicans noted that tensions are running high after seven consecutive weeks of session, likening the current mood of the conference to a “long family road trip” where cooler heads are likely to prevail after a break.
