$852 billion package — Defense and Labor-HHS-Education

'Unforgiving' news cycle buries GOP spending victory

By SARAH FERRIS

Congress is on the cusp of a funding victory that hasn’t been accomplished in a generation. But hardly anyone is paying attention — even though it likely will avert a government shutdown.

Capitol Hill is in a frenzy this week over the fates of both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — political stories that are overshadowing the low-drama, bipartisan effort to fund the government on time.

By Wednesday night, both chambers of Congress are expected to have cleared 87 percent of federal funding without a single blow-up, and with days to spare before the Sept. 30 deadline for fiscal 2019. That includes the Pentagon’s first on-time annual funding bill in 22 years, a success that would normally be a selling point Republicans would be touting six weeks ahead of a midterm election.

“We would love to be talking about it,” one senior GOP aide said. “We’re competing against a news cycle right now that’s pretty unforgiving, and it’s hard to break through.”

Even longtime critics of the appropriations process, like House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), are declaring that Congress is finally “doing its job.”

By Thursday morning, however, all eyes will be on a Senate hearing on allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman in high school. That same day, President Donald Trump has set up a high-stakes meeting that could result in the unseating of the Justice Department’s second in command.

The House plans to vote Wednesday afternoon on the biggest spending bundle since the massive deal Congress reached in March, laying the capstone of this year’s unexpectedly bipartisan push to keep policy disputes out of the spending debate in the interest of avoiding more continuing resolutions and catchall omnibus bills.

Neither of the two measures in the $852 billion package — Defense and Labor-HHS-Education — have been signed into law on time in a decade.

"Today marks a victory in the return for regular order," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who chairs the spending panel in charge of the Labor-HHS-Education bill, said Tuesday as GOP leaders teed up the package for a final floor vote.

Still, key lawmakers and aides say they aren't even sure Trump will sign that legislation before the Sept. 30 deadline, leaving the possibility of a last-minute shutdown.

The GOP victories in the package are extensive. It includes the biggest pay raise for troops in nearly a decade, billions of dollars to fight opioid addiction and more cash for the Education Department than either chamber initially approved.

The two bills in the package constitute two-thirds of the spending Congress controls. But the measure also serves a greater purpose since it contains tide-me-over funding until Dec. 7 for every other agency that would be left in limbo, achieving both parties’ chief priority of staving off a pre-election funding lapse. The stopgap would also leave the fight over Trump's border wall funding until then.

Trump has already signed an initial three-bill package Congress cleared earlier this month to fund the departments of Veterans Affairs and Energy, along with military construction, water projects and the Legislative Branch.

Republicans would normally earn hard-fought bragging rights for reversing years of failure to clear updated spending levels on time. Indeed, on their watch, Congress will have approved the most on-time appropriations bills in 22 years.

Unlike past years, though, there’s no shutdown countdown on major news networks or headlines previewing a down-to-the-wire vote. Instead, in a week saturated with political scandals, Congress’ duty to fund the government has become an afterthought.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) reiterated this week that Congress has made “real progress.” But he wouldn't comment on whether voters are paying attention, saying only that it will be a “good feeling” for spending leaders to see the bills signed into law.

With just four working days left to fund the government, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't make a single mention during his weekly televised press briefing Tuesday about the threat of a funding lapse.

“Obviously this is a very important week for the Senate and for the country,” he said, addressing the confirmation process for Kavanaugh, rather than the looming funding deadline.