Republicans join Democrats in advancing funding bills out of Senate panel

Senate GOP negotiators Thursday joined Democrats in advancing three significant federal funding bills out of the upper chamber’s Appropriations Committee, as the panel moves quickly to pass its dozen annual spending bills in the weeks ahead. 

The panel voted overwhelmingly to pass three pieces of legislation laying out proposed fiscal 2024 funding for agencies ranging from the departments of Justice (DOJ), Commerce (DOC), Treasury, NASA, the Small Business Association (SBA), the United States Capitol Police and the legislative branch, among others. 

“We have an obligation to keep this process moving, and we are determined to show the American people Congress can work in a responsible, timely, bipartisan way to pass our funding bills that make their lives better,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday. 

“And get our government and our communities the resources they need to keep our nation safe and competitive,” she added ahead of the votes.

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), top Republican on the funding panel, also applauded the panel’s commitment to “regular order,” while noting the committee last month held its first markup meeting since 2021. At the time, the committee also passed the fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation for agriculture operations, as well as military construction and Veterans Affairs (VA), in unanimous bipartisan votes.

The bipartisan passage comes in sharp contrast to the direction seen in the GOP-led House, where Republican negotiators have set out to marking up their funding bills at top-line levels much lower than those agreed to as part of a spending cap deal worked out between President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier this year.

House GOP negotiators announced last month that they would be reverting to the fiscal year 2022 top-line levels for new spending legislation, as hard-line conservatives came out against budget caps agreed to as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. 

The bill was the product of weeks of intense negotiations between House GOP leadership and the White House to prevent what economists say could have been an unprecedented national default by raising the debt limit — but not without a handful of measures attached aimed at curbing spending to buy Republican support.

However, in the weeks since the bill’s passage, a number of conservatives have voiced staunch opposition to the caps for not going far enough to cut spending, putting pressure on leaders to hold the line for further cuts.

During the Senate panel markups Thursday, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS), touched on some criticism directed to the debt limit agreement.

“There are those who have criticized, perhaps more on our side than on the Democratic side, that the Fiscal Responsibility Act didn’t do enough,” Moran said. “I don’t know what enough always is, but I want to point out to those critics that Senator Shaheen and I are working with $1.3 billion less as a result of the passage of that legislation.”

“So, when people ask for fiscal responsibility, this may or may not be enough fiscal responsibility,” he said. “We still have huge debts and interest rates are a challenge and inflation is a problem for every American. But at least as evidenced by our work, we are working with a lot less money than we have been working with in the past to accommodate and to accomplish this legislation.”

The fiscal 2024 CJS appropriations bill, one of the three bills considered by the funding panel Thursday, proposes $71.7 billion in discretionary funding. That includes roughly $38 billion for the DOJ, $11.1 billion for Commerce and $9.5 billion for the National Science Foundation.

The legislative branch appropriations advanced by the panel proposed about $6.8 billion in funding for fiscal 2024, including $792 million for the United States Capitol Police and $813 million for the Government Accountability Office for auditing and oversight, while freezing members’ pay.

The panel also approved a rescission of $10 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approved by Democrats last year — in line with the previous agreement struck by McCarthy and Biden — while proposing about $1.9 billion for the Treasury excluding the IRS, $1.2 billion for the SBA, and upping funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy by $8 million above current levels.