Facing a fast-approaching deadline to keep the government funded when the fiscal year ends on September 30, lawmakers jockeyed for position Wednesday ahead of what could be a difficult and contentious appropriations process this fall.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned his fellow lawmakers that he wants to reach a full-year spending agreement before working on specific appropriations bills.
“When it comes to floor consideration, we cannot and will not start planting individual trees before we have bipartisan consensus on the shape of the forest,” McConnell said during the Appropriation Committee’s first markup session of the year.
McConnell said he has two requirements for moving ahead with the appropriations process. First, he said that Democrats must accept parity in defense and non-defense spending growth – honoring what he called a “long-standing bipartisan truce” on the issue – with the topline figure set at a “responsible” level acceptable to all parties. Second, McConnell warned against “poison pill” riders that introduce provisions that are clearly unacceptable to one of the parties.
Dems don’t necessarily agree: The top Democrat on the committee, Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (VT), said he thinks work can begin even without a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on overall spending levels. “I am not going to put forward an allocation at this time,” Leahy said. “I believe that would only divide the Committee, and delay our typically bipartisan work.”
Leahy added that he expects to continue working on the topline spending level during the August break, and to hammer out the individual spending bills when the Senate returns in mid-September. That would leave the Senate with just 12 days to work out a deal.
