When Congress returns this week, House Republican leaders’ mission will be to act swiftly to fund the government and avoid the drama of a shutdown confrontation.
The task appears simple: pass legislation to keep the federal government operating as it currently is when the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 — no extraneous provisions, no gamesmanship like last year.
All eyes will be on the House as it acts first on a “clean” stopgap measure — a continuing resolution — to keep federal funds flowing through mid-December. A vote on that bill is expected as early as Thursday this week.
In a memo to colleagues last week, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the chamber will “pass a Continuing Resolution that will continue government operations as they are on September 30th into the new fiscal year.”
That’s the easy part — the two sides have agreed to a discretionary spending level of $1.014 trillion in fiscal 2015 under the Ryan-Murray budget agreement.
The next step is tricky.
The Export-Import Bank’s charter is set to expire on Sept. 30 if Congress doesn’t reauthorize it. The conservative activist groups that incubated the shutdown last year are demanding that House Republicans block reauthorization of Ex-Im, labeling it an emblem of crony capitalism and corporate welfare.
On Monday, the Club For Growth and Heritage Action sent a letter to McCarthy calling on him to “affirmatively fight to end the Export-Import Bank.” They asked him to let the Ex-Im charter expire after saying on June 22, shortly after he was elected majority leader, that he opposes reauthorizing the bank.
But Senate Democratic leaders have said they won’t let that happen. One possibility is that if the House doesn’t include Ex-Im renewal, they’ll attach it to the CR and send it back. Ex-Im very likely has the support to pass in both chambers, with the votes of Democrats and more moderate Republicans who have expressed support.
Threatening a government shutdown over Ex-Im — a trade bank that financially supports U.S. exports, which many Americans have never heard of — carries obvious risks for Republicans. Many political analysts view the kind of brinksmanship that led to last October’s shutdown as highly unlikely, especially so close to midterm elections.
One possible endgame, as suggested by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), is a short-term renewal of Ex-Im until after the election, when Congress can debate on whether to continue, reform or end it.
Heritage Action threatened to downgrade lawmakers on their scorecards if they vote to reauthorize Ex-Im “either as a standalone measure or attached to another piece of legislation.”
Two McCarthy spokespeople didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
The prospect of a shutdown confrontation over immigration is effectively moot now that President Barack Obama has announced he’ll delay his executive actions on deportations until after the election. The clamor over rolling back Obama’s climate change rules has subsided — for now — as Republicans seek to avoid self-defeating confrontations that could jeopardize their top priority of winning control the Senate.
Congress has 10 scheduled working days to act before the government shuts down.
‘Mission’?
I thought it was called ‘doing your job.’
“The task appears simple: pass legislation to keep the federal government operating as it currently is when the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 — no extraneous provisions, no gamesmanship like last year.”
What ??
Hey Boehner, what was that about “raw politics” you spoke of yesterday??
I am of the opinion that Congress has not earned their salary this session. They should not get paid until they can fulfill their Constitutional duties like adults.
GOTea Mission: a) do something b) do something, drama-free and c) do something to keep govt. running. The mission goes against all they stand for. It can’t be done. One might even call it impossible.
McCarthy(isim) never really died, it was co opted by Fred C. Koch.
This will be another epic fail for Speaker Boehner. He has no control of his caucus, and with an election around the corner, the rabid TeaPublicans are all out to score big points for their screwy base voters by taking grandstanding types of votes! “See! I voted to SHUT the whole place DOWN!”, as if that is why they are in Congress!
This will not end well.