Recapping the Funding Debate in Washington

While so much of the media focused on attention grabbing headlines, I want to share with you my perspective on how the government funding debate played out last week. First, House Republicans passed the appropriation bills for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.

Specifically, in the Homeland Security bill, I successfully added my amendment to block the Biden Administration’s proposed $600 fee on farmers and small businesses here in the 4th District and across America. With these bills, combined with previously passed VA funding, the House has now passed roughly 70% of federal government funding through the annual appropriations process. 

Below is video of me explaining why I do not believe the Biden Administration should be asking law-abiding farmers and small businesses to pay for President Biden's failed policies.

It has been clear for some time that the House was going to need more time to finish the appropriations process. Sadly, Congress has not successfully completed this process since 1997, more than 25 years ago.

With the end of the fiscal year on Saturday at midnight, it was evident that a short-term funding bill would be necessary so the House could continue to move forward on appropriations. Republicans put up for a vote a 30-day stop gap measure that preserved funding for defense, the VA, and homeland security while enacting a nearly 30% spending reduction for discretionary programs over that one-month period.

Additionally, this measure inserted H.R. 2 – the Secure the Border Act. H.R. 2 was sent to the Senate in May and is the strongest border security legislation to pass the House in the modern era. H.R. 2 restores border integrity by hiring new border patrol agents, ending “catch and release,” strengthening the fight against human and drug traffickers, addressing the immigration adjudication backlog, and restarting construction on physical barriers.

Prior to the vote on the stopgap measure, I sent a survey to constituents across the 4th District. I laid out the proposals being discussed and asked the following question: Do you believe a House-proposed short-term funding bill should reduce spending and secure our border?

The choices for responses were as follows

• Yes, I believe we need to secure the border and reduce spending.

• No, just pass a bill to keep the government open without changing anything.

• Other

Below are the results from more than 2,000 constituents that responded.

With our nation over $33 trillion in debt, we need to reduce spending in the short-term, through the appropriations process, but we also need to address spending in the medium and long-term. With that in mind, late Thursday evening I introduced the Fiscal Commission Act of 2023. 

This bipartisan bill would create a debt commission comprised of 16 individuals including a total of 12 members from the House and Senate as well as 4 individuals from the private sector.  The goal of this bipartisan group would be to propose a set of policies designed to balance the budget as well as improve the solvency for all programs that have a federal trust fund. Additionally, my legislation requires the House and Senate to have a vote on this proposal without amendments after the 2024 election and before the 118th Congress adjourns. When I introduced the bill, it was cosponsored by 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats.

After a flurry of meetings, my bill was added to the 30-day stopgap measure as an amendment. On Friday morning, I spoke on the House floor about the importance of securing our border and getting our nation's fiscal house in order. 

While I supported this conservative stopgap, sadly, it fell short of a simple majority due to every democrat voting against this measure and 21 Republicans joining them.

Although some believe a shutdown would somehow produce a more conservative outcome, I do not share this view based on experience from previous shutdowns in 2013 and 2018. As the clock continued to wind down, the decision was then made to put a 45-day funding bill on the floor. 

To give our conference time to continue to reduce spending through the appropriations process and avoid a government shutdown, I supported this temporary measure. Meanwhile, the House will continue to focus on passing the rest of the appropriation bills. This stands in stark contrast to the Senate which has yet to pass a single appropriations bill.

House Republicans are working to change how Washington operates. No one said it would be easy, but making positive change is often difficult and takes time. I hope this helps shed light on how the last week in Washington went.

If you have questions or comments, I encourage you to reach out at Huizenga.House.Gov or by calling my office in Holland at (616) 251-6741 or my office in Portage at (269) 569-8595.

Thank you for reading this edition of the Huddle!