Ahead of the vote on the rule for the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill, top GOP leaders were hunkered down in the speaker’s office to meet with members of the House Freedom Caucus to gauge where they stand ahead of Wednesday's key vote to advance the military spending bill.
Just hours ahead of the vote, there remained a lack of consensus among Freedom Caucus members as to what their concerns and disagreements with the appropriations process are, according to one source familiar. This makes whipping the votes and ensuring the rule passes more difficult for leadership as members who are against the bill each have their own problems with it.
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As he left the meeting, Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) said there was still “confusion about some of the language” ahead of the rule vote and specified that the confusion relates to policy rather than funding levels.
This was reiterated by the speaker’s right-hand man, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), who said the overall disagreement is not over the top-line number.
“I think in terms of top-line funding levels … everybody agrees,” Graves said. “I think that, well, I'll say it again. You need to talk to them if you have questions. I'm not gonna speak for them. But I'm still confident we can move forward, and we can show us a better path forward financially.”
Graves declined to say whether or not he believes the rule vote will pass.
But, while some say the top-line number is agreed upon, others expressed they still have concerns about the number and want to ensure leadership keeps its word and funds the government the $1.471 trillion without rescission.
“I've been very clear with the leadership that my concern is the overall funding level,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a Freedom Caucus member. “Because that's the thing that's going to impact the American people. So I think we got to be able to be sober in our spending levels overall while also making sure we have substantive policies for the country.”
Donalds also expressed that one of the policy matters holding it up has to do with abortion, specifically referring to an executive order from the White House that allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortion counseling and abortion access to veterans.
On top of the policy, some members also are taking issue with the process by which the bill is coming to the floor.
“If you go one bill, then is that the new process? Are we just picking them off one at a time? I think everybody would like to see those closer together,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), a Freedom Caucus member.
Biggs said he wants to be able to review each bill separately and independently before voting on a single appropriations bill.
This was one of the demands they made at a press conference on Tuesday. They want to see all 12 appropriations bills out of the Appropriations Committee before voting on any one on the floor. Currently, 10 are out of committee, and two remain in committee.
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Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said he is not concerned about the rule passing on the military construction appropriation bill. Rather, he thinks they still need to nail down the bill.
“I don’t know why they would be against the rule. There’s an awful lot of amendments in there that advance their interests. But, again, this isn’t your dad’s Congress. Rule votes are much more in play than I’ve ever seen them in my time,” Cole said.