House Republicans on Saturday set up floor debate for this upcoming week on four fiscal 2024 appropriations bills after making combined cuts of nearly $3.8 billion from agriculture and foreign aid programs compared with original committee-reported versions.
But it’s not yet clear they’ll have the votes to adopt the expansive rule, which covers debate and 440 amendments to the Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture and State-Foreign Operations measures. And a continuing resolution to simply keep federal agencies’ lights on beyond Sept. 30 was still nowhere in sight amid an ongoing revolt by ultra-conservatives in that chamber.
“There are still a few members that won’t vote for funding the government while we finish all the 12 bills. I don’t understand,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who spoke to reporters outside the Rules Committee’s meeting Saturday. He said he was still hoping to avoid a partial government shutdown as members “that have been holding off all this time blaming everybody else, will finally, hopefully, move off.”
