Scramble for votes...

Republicans scramble for votes to fund the government

House GOP leaders head to the floor today with their stopgap bill.

By RACHAEL BADE and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants are making a final push for the votes needed to pass a government funding bill set for the House floor on Thursday, just 24 hours before federal agencies run out of money.

House GOP leaders are betting that their conference doesn’t want to trample on its tax victory by shuttering federal agencies. But they are running into problems with a separate massive $81 billion disaster aid package, a complex dynamic that is making it harder to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Jan. 19.

The disaster bill has strong support from lawmakers in Texas, Florida and other states pummeled by two deadly hurricanes this summer. These lawmakers have warned party leaders they don't want to adjourn without passing the disaster measure, linking their support for the CR to the hurricane-relief package.

But the Senate is signaling that it isn't likely to approve the disaster aid bill this week due to Democratic opposition, making it harder to pass the stopgap spending bill in the House.

Top House Republicans will meet with members from the Texas and Florida delegations this morning in a bid to work through the issue, said GOP lawmakers and aides.

If the House passes the funding patch Thursday, the Senate will move on it as quickly as possible to pass the measure and avert a possible shutdown, GOP aides said.

With House Democrats so far united against a short-term spending plan that doesn’t include their top priorities, Ryan is forced to rely on his divided conference to carry the bill over the finish line. GOP defense hawks and conservatives alike spent Wednesday criticizing Ryan’s plan. However, Republican leaders still think they may be able to garner the needed 217 votes.

On Wednesday night, House GOP leaders circulated proposed language set to be added to the hurricane relief bill to address the concerns of Democrats that Puerto Rico was not receiving sufficient help to recover from Hurricane Maria. They offered to insert a provision stabilizing Medicaid programs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and suggested they could make additional tweaks to the bill.

The changes were made to garner Democratic votes, as Ryan and his team worried they didn't have the GOP votes to pass it alone.

The last-minute drama shows just how difficult it is for Ryan to corral his fractured conference, even just hours after his biggest win as speaker. Hill Republicans celebrated passage of their most significant legislative achievement, tax reform at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, only to return to the Hill to spar over thorny spending issues.

During a closed-door conference meeting, House GOP tensions were on full display. Pentagon allies stood up and railed against a new leadership plan to fund the government until Jan. 19 without a full-year boost for the Pentagon.

House Armed Services Committee GOP members, including Austin Scott of Georgia, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Mike Turner of Ohio, reminded leaders that they endorsed a yearlong military boost just two weeks ago and criticized their sudden change of course.

Some Republicans reminded leaders that they backed a short-term spending agreement just a couple weeks ago because leadership promised that it would “fight” for Pentagon money before Friday’s shutdown deadline.

“The reason I voted ‘yes’ for a CR two weeks ago was for the defense bill, as conferenced and passed by the House, and a clean CR,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), an ex-Marine.

GOP leaders responded by telling the conference that there were not 217 votes to pass the original Pentagon-CR plan. Texas and Florida Republicans whipped against the idea when it did not include their own hurricane funding. Then, when leaders added the provision, some conservatives flipped from yes to no because it was not paid for.

Ryan also told the conference that Defense Secretary James Mattis had given his blessing to a short-term funding plan. Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who has a son is in the military, also grew emotional when she argued that the House needed to pass a straight CR for the men and women in uniform.

House Freedom Caucus conservatives, meanwhile, are balking at GOP leadership’s plan to temporarily reauthorize the government’s surveillance authority as part of the spending patch. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act divides the conference between libertarians and hawks — and conservatives are loath to support even a short-term patch without a commitment from GOP leaders that certain changes will be made in the future.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina would not give details on what the group was requesting of leaders on the matter. But Freedom Caucus board member Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said he could be a yes on the stopgap if leadership took FISA out of the stopgap bill.

Across the Capitol campus, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained that the disaster bill — while almost double the Trump administration's initial proposal of $44 billion — "still does not treat Puerto Rico, California and the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as Florida and Texas."

Senate aides believe there was some support for postponing final action on the disaster package until January, although this possibility would anger lawmakers from Texas and Florida, who want the bill approved before the holiday recess.

Senior appropriators who’ve seen the last-minute holiday theater expressed confidence that leadership would get it done.

"I think the speaker's plan gives us the best chance to reach our long-term goals, given the Senate's parameters, to finally get defense spending where we want to be in the budget cap talks," said Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), a former chairman of the Appropriations Committee who is still on the panel.

When asked whether the CR would pass, Rogers said, "I think so."