This undated photo shows the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The Trump Administration panned a move by House Democrats to try and block new lease sales in ANWR and in offshore waters. (Photo by Steven Chase/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Getty Images)
The White House budget office criticized House Democrats over provisions in their spending bills that would block the Interior Department from pursuing lease sales in offshore waters and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an ecologically sensitive region in Alaska.
The House Appropriations Committee last week approved the $46.4 billion Energy-Water and $39.5 billion Interior-Environment fiscal 2020 spending bills.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks to reporters after objecting to the unanimous consent for passage of the disaster aid bill in the House on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
A second Republican lawmaker blocked Congress from clearing a $19.1 billion disaster aid bill — a tactic that will likely be repeated for a third time later this week during another round of political theater.
The GOP maneuvers are likely to be for naught, however, as it’s a matter of time before the House clears the package for President Donald Trump’s signature. The chamber reconvenes on June 3 after the weeklong Memorial Day recess, and a roll call vote could be held as soon as that evening, if another unanimous consent request expected Thursday is blocked.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, objected last week when the House tried to pass a disaster aid bill using unanimous consent during a pro forma session when most members were out of town. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The Texas GOP lawmaker who blocked passage of a $19.1 billion disaster aid bill on Friday won’t be in the chamber Tuesday afternoon when the House reconvenes for another pro forma session.
But with any lawmaker able to object to a new unanimous consent request, the odds of ramming the relief bill through the chamber without a recorded vote during this recess week remain shaky.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who chairs the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, offered amendments to boost Members Representational Allowances. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The House Appropriations Committee advanced a $3.97 billion fiscal 2020 Legislative Branch spending measure Thursday, following tension over total funding levels and the absence of a final budget agreement.
The panel voted 28-22 to report the draft bill to the floor, which would provide $164 million more than enacted fiscal 2019 levels.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., conducts a State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing in Rayburn Building on the State Department's budget request for Fiscal Year 2020 on March 27. Appropriators aim to restore aid funding to Central American countries in a 2020 spending bill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
House appropriators are trying to end a divisive suspension of foreign aid to Central America made by President Donald Trump, one of many provisions in a spending bill that would counter administration policy on a range of international issues.
The draft fiscal 2020 State-Foreign Operations spending bill released Thursday would also provide more money to reproductive health programs and international agencies.
From left, Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y., House Appropriations ranking member Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Senate Appropriations ranking member Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt. The top four appropriators are key to reaching a bipartisan deal on disaster relief. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Senate appropriators hope to wrap up negotiations this week on a bipartisan disaster relief package that can get President Donald Trump’s support, while House Democrats plan to forge ahead with a vote on their own preferred proposal.
The House bill would provide $17.2 billion in aid to areas affected by recent natural disasters. The measure is similar to one the chamber passed in January, but it includes an additional $3 billion to address subsequent floods in the Midwest and tornadoes in the South.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, left, and ranking member Kay Granger are the first pair of women to lead the panel. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The first all-female duo leading the House Appropriations Committee since its Civil War-era creation is setting out to avoid the mess they walked into on Day One of their new roles — a government shutdown.
“I want to be very clear; I think there should be a commitment in the Congress — Democrats and Republicans working with the White House — to say, ‘We are adults, these are difficult issues, but we can resolve them,’” House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey told CQ Roll Call this week in an interview alongside ranking member Kay Granger. “But throwing a tantrum and shutting down the government is not a responsible way to be a member of the government of the United States of America — whether you are in the legislative branch or the White House.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., left, and ranking member Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, are interviewed by CQ Roll Call in the Capitol on Tuesday, April 30 (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference to announce his national emergency delclaration for the situation at the southern border on Feb. 15 in the White House's Rose Garden. He traveled to the border on Friday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images file photo)
ANALYSIS — One day, President Donald Trump seemed dead set on closing ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. The next, he had shelved that threat — maybe — for another aimed at pressuring Mexican officials to curb migrant flows into the United States.
That followed a retreat by the president on trying to pressure congressional Republicans into another attempt to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s entire 2010 health law. Fittingly, the latest roller coaster-like week of the Trump era ended with a presidential trip to the southern border.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., chair of the House Appropriations Committee walks across the Capitol from the House side for a meeting with House and Senate appropriators in an effort to revive spending talks and avert a second shutdown on Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The top four congressional appropriators said Monday they had reached an “agreement in principle” that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and the rest of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year and could avoid a government shutdown if President Donald Trump signs off on it.
The agreement is now being drafted into legislative text that the House and Senate hope to advance before Friday’s government funding deadline, the appropriators said.
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