GOP aide: Ebola, ISIS funding will be in bill

Funding for the fight to combat Ebola and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will be addressed in the lame-duck spending bill, a GOP leadership aide told The Hill Monday.

“No decisions have been made,” the aide said, on pursuing a short-term spending bill or moving forward with an omnibus, “But in any scenario, ISIS and Ebola funding would be addressed.” 

House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing wouldn’t confirm the decision but said House lawmakers are currently negotiating these emergency spending requests with the Senate.

{mosads}The White House has asked Congress to approve nearly $6.2 billion for domestic and overseas efforts to eliminate the Ebola outbreak and $5.6 billion more for U.S. military operations against ISIS.

Last week, the committee grilled Obama administration officials about the costs of combating Ebola and how the money would be distributed. One GOP senator suggested Congress might fund the effort below the president’s request, but a House Republican said he thinks lawmakers will approve the full amount.   

The $5.6 billion to fight ISIS is in addition to the administration’s earlier $58.6 billion request, which hasn’t been approved yet, for the overseas contingency operations fund.

Pentagon officials recently said they would hold off on deploying 1,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq until Congress passes the new funding request. 

One Democrat told The Hill last week he wants the ISIS funding request to be linked to a vote for the authorization for the use of military force and to be separate from a government-wide spending bill. 

The possibility of another government shutdown, however, could upend and delay these new funding requests. 

Congress must pass a new spending bill by Dec. 12. 

House conservatives are pushing their leaders to defund President Obama’s expected executive action on immigration through the next spending bill or possibly move forward on a short-term continuing resolution rather than an omnibus spending bill for the rest of fiscal 2015. 

While GOP leadership aides confirm Republicans haven’t decided yet about a continuing resolution or an omnibus, the House Appropriations Committee is still moving forward with preparation on the omnibus measure.