When it comes to spending fights, Congress just can’t seem to avoid them.
Republicans and Democrats are once again battling over the details of major spending bills, and the fight may prevent Congress from completing 2020 funding measures anytime soon.
The battle comes just weeks before the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, when current funding expires, and hopes that the Senate would be able to pass a dozen spending bills this month are dimming.
Lawmakers have signaled they’ll likely have to vote on a temporary funding bill, which tends to lead to more spending waste and makes it harder for departments to function and plan, the military in particular.
Both parties are eager to avoid a government shutdown less than a year after a funding fight caused a partial closure that lasted 35 days.
Democrats and Republicans are blaming each other for the latest gridlock, which developed last week when the Senate returned from the August recess and lawmakers tried to pass two major appropriations bills that would fund health and labor budgets as well as foreign operations.
The Republican Senate majority postponed a vote on the two bills, however, because Democrats planned to offer two pro-abortion amendments most of the GOP opposes. Republicans consider the amendments “poison pills” that were banned as part of the two-year, bipartisan budget deal.
One amendment would restore federal funding to health clinics that provide abortions, and a second would strike language banning overseas clinics that accept federal U.S. dollars from performing or promoting abortion.
“I would call this a troubling development,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. “There was an effort to kind of change the rules, change the game, change what we agreed to.”
Democrats have their own complaints. They accuse Republicans of making a last-minute funding shift that would ultimately provide $12.2 billion to support President Trump’s effort to pay for a southern border wall.
Republicans moved $5 billion from the Health and Human Services Department and added funding back into the military’s budget to replenish the $3.6 billion that Trump has diverted to the wall.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans are trying to shift funding from critical health programs to a wall that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico.
“No Republican, certainly not the Republican leader who knows this place well, could seriously believe that Democrats would agree to that,” Schumer said. “Twelve billion dollars for the wall? Stolen from health care programs to fight opioid addiction and encourage cancer research? Stolen from military families? No Republican could expect Democrats to support that, nor should they. It’s terrible policy.”
Republicans ignored the complaints and on Thursday approved the funding levels for all 12 appropriations measures, including the wall money.
The $1.3 trillion budget is comprised of $666.5 billion for defense and $621.5 billion for domestic budgets.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama said the budget addresses the crisis on the border, where hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have been apprehended, overwhelming federal border facilities and resources. He pointed out that the HHS budget would receive a 1.4% increase.
“The chairman’s proposal acknowledges the reality of the situation on the ground and accounts for investments in border security that are necessary to address it,” Shelby said on Thursday.
The House, run by Democrats, has passed appropriations measures and is waiting to negotiate on final numbers with the Senate.
Shelby is plodding ahead with other spending bills. The panel advanced the energy and water appropriations measure, as well as a $695 billion Defense Department spending bill.
“Where we are able to advance appropriations bills consistent with the budget agreement, we will do so,” Shelby said. “Where we cannot, we will not. It’s that simple.”
