THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017

H.Res. 478– Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 3219 – “Make America Secure Appropriations Act, 2018” (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations) (One hour of debate). The Rules Committee has recommended a structured Rule for additional amendments.  The Rule provides for consideration of fifty-four amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally controlled by the proponent and opponent of the amendment. The Rule also provides up to 10 pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate offered by the Chair and Ranking Member or their designee.

Additionally, the Rule provides the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations authority to offer amendments en bloc, consisting of amendments not previously considered. All en bloc amendments are debatable for 20 minutes equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the committee on Appropriations. 

The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rule also allows for Suspension Authority on the legislative days of July 27, 2017 and July 28, 2017. 

The Rule self-executes an amendment by Mr. Carter of Texas that provides $1,571,239,000 for the Department of Homeland Security to construct physical barriers along the southwest border of the United States in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and in San Diego, California.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Complete Consideration of H.R. 3219 – “Make America Secure Appropriations Act, 2018” (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations).  H.R. 3219 packages together four of the twelve regular appropriations bills for FY 2018 into a “minibus” bill before a budget has even been considered and before any of those four bills – or the remaining eight – were considered under regular order on the Floor.  They are: Defense, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Energy and Water Development.

In addition to the four regular appropriations bills, House Republicans are utilizing a legislative procedure to avoid a separate vote on an amendment to include $1.6 billion for construction of President Trump’s border wall, breaking the President’s promise to the American people that Mexico, and not taxpayers, would pay for it.

House Republicans are also breaking their own promises of following regular order and an open legislative process by acting on appropriations bills without passing a budget, by considering this package under structured rules that forego the open appropriations process, and by packaging unrelated issues into a single vehicle.

In this bill, House Republicans violate the Budget Control Act (BCA), which was agreed to on a bipartisan basis. The defense spending amount in this bill is consistent with the House Republicans’ budget plan to spend $621.5 billion on defense. Unless separate legislation is approved by both chambers to do away with the BCA’s $549 billion defense cap, all defense accounts will face a 13% across-the-board sequester cut.

Division A of H.R. 3219 contains the Defense bill, which appropriates $584.2 billion in base discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense for FY 2018, an increase of $68B over FY 2017, plus an additional $73.9 billion in discretionary budget authority designated for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).  As mentioned above, this base amount would be subject to a 13% sequester cut unless separate legislation is passed to change the BCA defense cap.

Division B of H.R. 3219 contains the Legislative Branch bill, which appropriates $3.6 billion for Congressional and support agency activities, other than Senate operations.  This legislation includes a provision blocking a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Members of Congress in 2018.

Division C of H.R. 3219 contains the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill, which appropriates $88 billion in discretionary budget authority, an increase of $6 billion over FY 2017.  About $10 billion of military construction projects is considered defense spending subject to the BCA caps, and would face a 13% sequester cut.

Division D of H.R. 3219 contains the Energy and Water bill, which appropriates $37.6 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY 2018.  While it contains a relatively small aggregate cut from FY 2017, overall the non-defense portion of the bill is cut by $1.3 billion. Those cuts are mostly to several research programs for renewable energy, and it contains several poison pill anti-environment riders.  $20.5 billion is considered defense spending subject to the BCA caps, and would face a 13% sequester cut.

This minibus is a cynical, partisan attempt to appear to increase defense spending while leaving investments in job creation, infrastructure, education, community development, multilateral cooperation with our global allies, and many other priorities out of the process. If the majority were serious about defense, they would fix sequestration and not include a poison pill – the Trump border wall.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

The Rule provides for no further general debate.  A full list of the fifty-four amendments made in order in the second Rule can be found HERE.

The following amendments had recorded votes pending as of last night:

Blackburn Amendment
Perry Amendment

Bill Text for H.R. 3219:
PDF Version

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Friday, July 28: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.  The House is expected to consider H.R. 3180 – Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, as amended (Rep. Nunes – Intelligence) (Subject to a Rule).  The House is expected to consider bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules.