The conservative House Freedom Caucus sent a letter on Sept. 28 to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), asking about his plan for approving appropriations bills just days before government funding runs out at midnight on Sept. 30.
Among the approximately 45 members of the caucus (as there is no official publicized list), 27 of them signed on to the letter to Mr. McCarthy.
In the letter, they asked Mr. McCarthy six questions.
The first one is: “What is the plan to address the public and widely reported issues threatening final passage of the four appropriations bills being considered on the House floor?”
These issues include U.S. assistance to Ukraine; more funds for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and Security Agency, which has come under fire from conservatives for working with social media companies to censor right-wing content in the name of “disinformation” or “misinformation”; and an amendment in the Agriculture–Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill regarding the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone by mail, which conservatives want to end.
The second question is: “What is the schedule for the other five bills reported by the House Appropriations Committee to come to the floor?” The bills that have yet to come to the House floor are Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Financial Services and General Government; Legislative Branch; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.
The appropriations bills that have come to the House floor are Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; Defense; Agriculture-FDA; Department of State Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; and Homeland Security.
The third question is: “When will the House Appropriations Committee report out the appropriations bills that they have not voted to send to the floor?” They are Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bills.
The fourth question is: “What is the plan to implement additional spending reductions in the remaining appropriations bills to reach the topline discretionary level of $1.526 trillion, which largely was agreed upon by the House Republican conference last week?”
The fifth is: “Will the House of Representatives remain in session to continue working until all 12 individual regular appropriations bills have passed?” Mr. McCarthy has said the House will stay in session until a continuing resolution is approved that would fund the government in the short term, giving lawmakers more time to iron out and pass appropriations legislation.
The sixth asks: “Will the House will decline to take up the Senate continuing resolution [CR], which would fund the government for another 45 days and includes assistance for Ukraine and disaster relief”
The 27 caucus members say that no one should support a CR until those “reasonable questions” are answered.
“We remain ready to continue working in good faith with our colleagues across the Republican conference to advance appropriations; likewise, we expect you to take every step necessary to pass these bills—starting with the four bills now under consideration to fund approximately two-thirds of the federal government,” they wrote.
A spokesperson for Mr. McCarthy declined to comment on the record about the letter.
In accordance with the debt-ceiling agreement, if appropriations bills aren’t enacted by Jan. 11, there would be a 1 percent cut across nondiscretionary spending items for the remainder of the federal fiscal year. The debt agreement expires in early January 2025, just months after the 2024 presidential election.
