Week ahead: Showdown over defense funding

House Republicans this week hope to push forward their plan to pass a short-term spending bill that includes $640 billion for full-year defense funding, but must contend with Democrats who oppose the move.  

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday released legislation that would fund domestic programs through Jan. 19 and fund the Defense Department through September 2018. The bill would also avert automatic defense sequestration cuts that would otherwise take effect.

GOP leadership decided on the plan to placate defense hawks and conservatives, but Democrats are likely to oppose it. Democrats have routinely demanded an increase in domestic funding along with any boost in the defense budget.

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Government funding runs out on Friday, after a two-week spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR), passed by Congress on Dec. 7, reaches its end. 

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), last week defended the funding measure, declaring the decision “settled.”

“No one is arguing that we are appropriating too much money for the military, or that the needs of our men and women in uniform aren’t urgent, or that we aren’t running out of time to turn the readiness crisis around in the face of serious threats,” Thornberry said in a Thursday statement. “Those issues are settled.”

The Senate must now approve the bill to avoid a government shutdown, but that looks unlikely, as at least 60 lawmakers must approve spending legislation to stave off a filibuster.

Senate Democrats made their displeasure known, urging GOP leadership in both chambers to give up on the plan to fund the Pentagon, but not other domestic programs, for a full year.

“If presented with partisan legislation that leaves these key priorities behind, we will oppose it,” the Democrats wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

But Thornberry in his statement pushed back on that stance.

“Opponents of this bill argue that we should put our urgent national security needs on hold until we reach a similar consensus on a whole host of other domestic programs,” Thornberry said. “We know what needs to be done to begin to repair our military. Congress should approve these resources now.”

A small number of committee hearings and outside events are also happening in the coming week as lawmakers look to wrap up their work for the year.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker will speak at the Atlantic Council at an event on the prospect of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. http://bit.ly/2yFoCTU

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had scheduled a hearing from a State Department official on the U.S. strategy for Syria after the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Tuesday. That hearing has been postponed. http://bit.ly/2BrNmEW

The Foreign Relations Committee will consider nominations for the ambassadors to Rwanda and Gabon at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Dirksen 419. http://bit.ly/2jZii5l

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