WASHINGTON — The U.S. House returns to a full legislative agenda this week with government funding at the top of lawmakers’ to-do list.
House members will return to Washington Monday after a five-week August recess with Republicans eager to pass their legislative priorities ahead of the midterms.
The federal government is set to run out of money Oct. 1 unless Congress passes a short-term funding patch before the deadline.
The House is expected to vote on the Senate-passed stopgap funding bill as early as week to fund the government through Dec. 11, after the general elections. Lawmakers are eager to avoid a costly and politically fraught shutdown before the midterms. U.S. Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., both supported the measure before the recess.
The House previously passed a Republican-led continuing resolution along mostly party lines, including Alabama’s delegation, before it left town last month. But the Senate-led bill represents a compromise between the two parties to fund the government and is more likely to become law.
The Senate stopgap funding bill keeps spending levels relatively flat while accounting for adjustments on food aid, shipbuilding and disaster relief.
It also includes a temporary pause on a new rule that would give sweeping power to political appointees over the federal grant approval process. Democrats had demanded that change.
The top House Democrat appropriator, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who voted against the House GOP-led bill, said the Senate stopgap bill “makes important progress” and contained “welcome improvements” but she stopped short of fully committing to the bill earlier this month.
NDAA
Before the end of the year, Congress must also pass the annual defense policy bill, led in the House by Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers, R-Saks.
The House passed its version of the bill in July, while Senate Democrats blocked the National Defense Authorization Act from advancing before recess over Democrats’ anger over funding Iran war efforts.
The House NDAA would authorize an unprecedented $1.15 trillion in defense spending. The measure would raise pay for service members by 5-7% and officially rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War. This year’s bill raises the baseline spending from around $900 billion to $1.15 trillion.
“So that’s important for the country to see and for the world to see to show that we’re serious about getting after strengthening our military,” Rogers told Alabama Daily News before recess.
The two chambers will have to negotiate a compromise NDAA before it becomes law this year.
When lawmakers return, Congress could also take up a third Republican party-line bill that could provide funding for the Iran war and domestic priorities.
The Trump administration proposed an additional $350 billion in defense spending this year to be funded as part of reconciliation, but the current package only outlines $60 billion for the Pentagon.
Farm bill
The Senate left town for its month-long recess earlier this month without making any progress on a farm bill. Democrats refused to advance the legislation out of committee in protest of the cuts to food assistance in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Senate Democrats have demanded the farm bill include a two-year delay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cost-share requirements, which will make states responsible for paying for a portion of the SNAP benefits costs based on their payment error rates. In Alabama, the state’s most recent error rate of 9.52% would cost the state about $174 million.
In response, Senate Republicans offered a one year-delay of the new SNAP requirements as a compromise in the proposed farm bill, but that wasn’t enough to appease Democrats before the recess.
Alabama advocacy groups and leaders have urged Britt and Tuberville to support a two-year delay to allow more time for the state to find ways to reduce its error rate and plan ahead for the increased SNAP costs.
But Tuberville, a member of the Agriculture Committee, has previously told ADN that a one-year delay is enough time to reduce Alabama’s payment error rate, even as he could be the one overseeing the higher costs to administer SNAP should he win the gubernatorial race in November.
The House already passed its version of the farm bill, which did not include any delay of the SNAP provisions. But to get 60 votes in the Senate, any successful farm bill will likely need to address some Democratic concerns about the food aid program.
The Senate will remain out of Washington for its month-long recess until Sept. 14. The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to take up the farm bill again upon lawmakers’ return.
After next week’s session, the House will be out again for Labor Day, returning alongside the Senate in mid-September.