The largest conservative caucus in the House has introduced an amendment to a stalled stopgap spending measure that would lower overall spending levels in a move to garner more support for the legislation.
The Republican Study Committee, which includes more than three-quarters of GOP lawmakers in the House, unveiled a one-page summary of its amendment to the continuing resolution that currently lacks enough votes to avert a partial government shutdown.
The amendment was first floated by caucus chair Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma on Tuesday, and would establish a topline spending number of $1.471 trillion for the duration of the continuing resolution, which is set to last for 30 days.
Mr. Hern’s amendment could resuscitate the struggling legislation. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy yanked the measure from a procedural vote on Tuesday — so far, there are 18 conservative lawmakers who are leaning toward a “no” vote on the measure as is.
Despite challenges mustering support for the measure, Mr. McCarthy has promised not to quit on avoiding a government shutdown.
“Every major piece of legislation falls apart how many times before it gets passed,” said Mr. McCarthy, California Republican. “It goes up, it comes down, but the ones that don’t pass are when people quit.”
But the proposal is unlikely to pass in the Democrat-majority Senate.
The new proposed spending cap is drawn from the previously advanced Limit, Save, Grow Act, which conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus have been pushing to secure their support for both the short-term funding measure and the dozen appropriations bills that will set spending levels for fiscal 2024.
The addition of the Limit, Save, Grow Act topline spending could change the minds of some lawmakers, such as Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who told reporters that he approved of the amendment.
He also lauded Mr. Hern as a “businessman who understands how to balance the budget.”
The Republican Study Committee amendment would also keep the Secure the Border Act in the continuing resolution that was first engineered by a handful of members from the Freedom Caucus and more moderate Republican Main Street Caucus.
That legislation was a key item on the Freedom Caucus’ wishlist to earn their support of a continuing resolution.
Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida was one of the members of the negotiating team that produced the continuing resolution. He said he is in favor of Mr. Hern’s addition to the measure, and wanted to use the time lawmakers have left this month to get something done.
“When we all go home and talk to our voters, you know, we’re not talking about cool things we said in the media, we’re talking about concrete things we actually did,” Mr. Donalds said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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