Today on the Hill: House Readies Stopgap Funding Bill for Floor Time

House lawmakers will resume legislative business today as members eye action on government funding. The House Rules Committee is slated to meet later today to craft the rule that will govern debate for a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through Nov. 21. Additional details on the House CR remain unclear, as lawmakers are still jostling for certain legislative priorities — including extensions for expiring Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as increased funding for payments to farmers impacted by tariffs — to be tacked on to the bill.

In other notable funding news, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced yesterday that the upper chamber will take up the first House-passed minibus for the purpose of using it as a legislative “shell” that the Senate will use for its first spending votes. While it’s unclear what the Senate will actually vote on, it could include the spending bill for Energy-Water or a stopgap funding resolution. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee is set to begin consideration of another batch of fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending bills. The Subcommittees on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD), and Agriculture will meet today to mark up their respective bills ahead of a full committee markup on Thursday.

On the floor, House lawmakers will consider suspension bills out of the Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. This includes: (1) a bill encouraging states to mandate the installation of residential carbon monoxide detectors in homes; (2) a measure that would require compliant flame mitigation devices to be used on portable fuel containers for flammable liquid fuels; and (3) legislation that would reauthorize funding programs for historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. In the upper chamber, Senators will resume consideration of pending presidential nominees.