Whither a Government Shutdown, More Politics

With a government shut deadline only a few hours away, legislators have a text for the proposed $1.2 trillion spending bill. The biggest issue was the appropriations bill for Homeland Security; passing the six spending bills would settle the budget about six months late with the next one due by September 30, 2024. Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) will try to sell the deal with a $20 billion cut in IRS funding to protect the GOP wealthy constituency, but Republicans oppose the expansion of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for veterans. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) plugged the “$1 billion more to lower families’ childcare costs.

The bill first goes to the House which will have to waive the 72-hour rule wait for bills to avoid a shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he will put it before the Senate immediately if the House passes it. The Senate will require unanimous consent to vote quickly.

Angry conservatives are considering a delay on the bill although GOP senators haven’t declared blocking it from passing before the deadline. They are angry with Speaker Johnson’s handling of the bills. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called the process “a total disaster.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) asked until April 12 to review the legislation which would require a continuing resolution, which conservatives typically oppose.

Provisions in the Homeland Security appropriations bill:

• Increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to support 42,000 beds in detention facilities.
• Fund 22,000 Border Patrol agents.
• Cut U.S. contributions by 20 percent to nongovernment organizations providing services for new arrivals, possibly leading to illegal crossings.
• Prohibit federal funding for 12 months to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after Israel’s evidence-free claims that some of the agency’s employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. (Loss of funding would worsen the extreme humanitarian problems in Gaza.)
• Cut foreign aid programs, a tiny part of federal spending, by six percent.
• Block non-official flags, including Pride symbols, from flying on U.S. embassies and diplomatic outposts.
• Eliminate GOP attempts to limit abortion access and restrict LGBTQ+ rights.
• Provide an additional 12,000 special immigrant visas for Afghans who assisted the U.S. military and need to escape the Taliban government.

In other areas, Democrats put in $55 million for election security grants which House Republicans, obsessed by “election security,” wanted to eliminate. Much to the dismay of Republicans, the bill has no provision for members’ pay raise after a years-long freeze on legislators’ pay. The Transportation Security Administration received $1.2 billion over last year, over $1 billion increasing workers’ “pay equity investments started last year.” Conservatives also railed against the $200 million for the new FBI headquarters in Maryland, complaining about the “weaponized” law enforcement community.

Missing are hard-liners wishes to decrease salaries of  GOP-disliked Cabinet officials to $1 and to end the Pentagon policy reimbursing travel costs for service members forced to leave a state for reproductive care. Extremists are also insisting on 72 hours to review the 1,012-page document.

One of the largest complaints conservatives had was about the process used by leadership to roll out and consider the spending measure. Republicans lambasted top lawmakers for unveiling the legislative text at 2:00 in the morning and having fewer than 72 hours to review the 1,012-page package. If bringing up the bill suspends the rules in a fast-track process, a two-thirds vote is required for passage.

Only four times since 1977 has Congress passed all appropriations bills by the beginning of the fiscal year.

While the House stalled on the 2024 budget, the GOP-led House Budget Committee passed a 2025 budget resolution limiting access to social safety net programs, cutting federal domestic discretionary spending, and removing much of Biden’s agenda and regulations to fight climate change. The Republican Study Committee with a supermajority of GOP House members, recommends the Social Security retirement age be raised from 67 although it didn’t give a specific age, eliminating some healthcare subsidies in the Affordable Care Act, and largely restricting access to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The next fight has begun before the last one was solved.

President Joe Biden has a saying that budgets show what people value, and his budget proposal for 2025 shows his desire to narrow income inequality, address the housing crisis, bolster the working poor, and make the wealthy pay their share of Medicare taxes by removing the cap on people making over $400,000. Another part of his budget would help first-time home buyers plus subsidizing new construction and renovation. Republicans claim that they want to help families, but no support for them is evident in their budget, especially in their intent to extend DDT’s tax cuts.  

Called “Fiscal Sanity to Save America Plan” by members, the Republican Study Committee endorsed a series of bills “designed to advance the cause of life,” including the Life at Conception Act, which would aggressively restrict abortion and threaten IVF by legally protecting human beings at “the moment of fertilization.” It also recommends building the border wall, restricts LGBTQ+ rights, ends birthright citizenship (which is legalizes by the constitution), and attacks the critical race theory. Abortion restrictions would ban medication abortions, eliminate abortions for those in the U.S. military, and cut funding for U.S. universities “that partner with or host student health services that provide abortions.” The committee also wants people to pay higher prices for medications. It describes the provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that permitting government price negotiation with pharmaceutical companies “socialist price controls.”

In a symbolic measure with a vote of 390-9, all the opposition to a resolution condemning Russia’s taking Ukrainian children were Republicans: Andy Biggs (AZ), Eric Burlison (MO), Warren Davidson (OK), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Clay Higgins (LA), Thomas Massie (KY), Matt Rosendale (MR), Chip Roy (TX), and Tom Tiffany (WI). Russia has taken an estimated 200,000 to 260,000 children. The nine supporting the kidnapping gave such reasons as the bill being a distraction from the southern border, building support for more Ukraine aid, and other concerns that it would obligate the U.S. in other ways. Greene refused to give any reason to a HuffPost reporter, saying only that “your publication is literally trash. I mean true garbage. That’s my statement to you.”

In the past, a small minority has voted against resolutions against Russia, and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) nicknamed the GOP “Putin wing.” A Washington Post reported added that these Republicans have formed “what some Democrats (and even critics on the right) have labeled ‘Putin’s Caucus.’” 

As conservative House members grow more disillusioned with the chamber’s management, the extremist Freedom Caucus is shrinking. Speaker Johnson plans to block a government shutdown by mostly ignored demands from the right-wing factions, and the center-right Republican Main Street Partnership is supporting opponents to the Caucus’ chair, Bob Good. Greene was ousted last summer, and last week Randy Weber (TX) lost his membership because he didn’t attend enough meetings. Weber said, “This just isn’t the Freedom Caucus I joined 10 years ago.” This week, Ken Buck (CO) was dismissed a few days before he quits Congress because he “hasn’t been with conservatives on several major issues.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is trying to block the biggest U.S. supermarket merger as Kroger wants to take over Albertsons. The FTC argues that the $24.6 billion takeover would narrow consumer choice, weaken product quality, and raise prices. The proposed transaction would also stop “aggressive competition” for employees in attempts to obtain better pay, benefits, and working conditions. The merger would result in over 5,000 stores in 48 states with almost 700,000 employees. Seven states and Washington, D.C. have joined the FTC lawsuit.

Gas prices are starting to increase although the average is only $0.02 more than last year at this time. One reason is that refineries are shut down while switching to more expensive summer fuel; another is the extreme cold of the past winter. Drone attacks on oil refineries inside Russia also play a part in raising gasoline and oil prices because the country will need to import gasoline for fuel. In addition, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea forced time and costs from the rerouting of oil tankers. At $81.70 a barrel, U.S. crude is 20 percent higher than the same time last year. And OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, continues to limit supply to boost prices.

After a residency question about Eric Hovde’s run for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin from his home in California, he was found sheltering investments worth $74 million in companies based in Bermuda, until recently a tax-haven with no corporate income tax rate. He is wooing voters by promising to donate his entire $174,000 Senate salary ala DDT.

Stories about presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his possible running mate Aaron Rodgers keep getting crazier. According to recent revelations, Kenney believes plastic pollution turns people gay, and Rodgers recorded in a 2020 video that AIDS was “created” by corrupt pharmaceutical companies. Kennedy’s “idea” is similar to one from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who falsely blames the government for putting chemicals in the water to make people more feminine.