(CNN) — The House of Representatives on Wednesday took the first step toward funding President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, as well as approving tens of billions in additional Pentagon money and aid for US farmers.
The plan also includes money for state election grants aimed at promoting Trump’s “SAVE America Act.”
But with tiny margins and growing angst ahead of the midterms, even top Republicans don’t know what happens next.
The House formally adopted the blueprint for Trump’s funding plan, known as a budget resolution, in a hard-fought vote on Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson muscled the plan through despite consternation from multiple sides of his conference: Some moderates still want more information about Pentagon spending, while fiscal hawks are angry that the package is set go on the nation’s credit card. The vote was 216-214.
And there are enormous details still missing: The House voted only on a blueprint for the plan, not the actual legislation, which will be extremely tricky for GOP leaders to write.
The fate of the House’s budget proposal is uncertain in the Senate. Johnson and his House Republicans need total cooperation from the Senate to get the money across the finish line without help from Democrats using a complex process known as “reconciliation.”
It’s not yet clear if elements of the bill to promote the “SAVE America Act” would be approved by the Senate’s nonpartisan rules referee known as the parliamentarian. The elections overhaul bill does not have the votes to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold – one reason why some Republicans had hoped to use the party-line process known as reconciliation to advance the measure as Trump continues to call for its passage.
The problem is multi-fold in the Senate. GOP leaders are reluctant to use their special procedural powers to advance any legislation – let alone money for an unpopular war – so close to the November elections. That’s because Democrats can force an unlimited number of politically painful amendment votes on the matter when a Senate budget comes to the floor through reconciliation, in what is known as a vote-a-rama.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has told lawmakers that their needs are growing urgent. Key GOP lawmakers have said the money is needed before the August recess, something that will almost certainly not happen, since the House is set to leave for that recess on Thursday.
The-CNN-Wire
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