GOP rep urges House to pass spending bills to have ‘negotiating clout’ 

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) is calling for the House to pass the necessary appropriations bills to have “negotiating clout” in later spending talks with the Senate. 

“We don’t control the Senate, we don’t control the White House, but what we do control is our own appropriations process, and [House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas)] has written more conservative bills and more conservative funding levels than the Senate, more conservative than the debt ceiling deal that President Biden and [House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] agreed to,” Hill said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But to have that negotiating clout, we need to get all those bills passed across the House floor.” 

The looming threat of a government shutdown at the end of September leaves House lawmakers with around three weeks to come to an agreement over appropriations levels as conservatives push to cut spending. 

Leaders of both parties have said a short-term solution known as a continuing resolution is going to be necessary to keep the government open past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. 

Pointing to the Senate’s advancement of all 12 funding bills while the House remains deadlocked with only one bill passed, Hill argued the Senate currently has the upper hand in negotiations. 

“So that gives [the Senate] a distinct advantage over the House in the negotiation for 2024 spending details,” Hill said. “And if we want to merit that and have the right kind of negotiation that House conservatives want, then we need to come together and pass those 11 bills as soon as possible.” 

Hill said he would support a “brief” continuing resolution in the October time frame, arguing the House just needs more floor time to debate and pass the remaining 11 bills.  

Conservative House members have said they will oppose any stopgap government funding that does not include policy measures in connection with the border, the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and “woke” policies in the Pentagon. 

When asked about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) vow that she will not vote for government funding without an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, Hill said, “I don’t have insight on that.” 

Hill said he does not believe House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) think that tactic is a good idea for leadership. The Arkansas representative said he doesn’t believe Jordan or Comer have “even remotely completed” the investigation into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. 

Meanwhile, Comer said last week he believes there are enough votes in the House to open an impeachment inquiry into Biden, predicting the vote will be held in the middle of this month.