GOP bill to fund legislative branch fails on House floor

Ten House Republicans joined most Democrats on Thursday in sinking GOP-led legislation to fund the legislative branch for fiscal 2025, throwing an embarrassing wrench in GOP leadership's ambitious plan to pass all 12 annual funding bills by the August recess.

The bill failed 205-213, with three Democrats voting in favor of it. It is the fifth funding bill for fiscal 2025 Republicans have brought to the floor. The other four passed.

The GOP-led measure was unlikely to become law in its current form, as the Democratic-led Senate will advance its own proposal, and the two chambers will eventually draft a compromise bill. But the House's measure lays out Republican priorities, and leaders hoped passing it will give them leverage to ensure some of those priorities end up in the final bill.

Republicans leaving the chamber on Thursday said they were caught off guard by the outcome.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a spending cardinal, told pressed he was surprised “at the number.”

“You have to ask them,” Womack said. “I know in one case, I think it has to do with a philosophical difference on member pay.”

An earlier version of the bill that could have ended a years-long freeze on pay raises for lawmakers was changed to uphold the pause as it passed out of committee last month.

Asked about the vote on Thursday, Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), head of the subcommittee that crafted the bill, said he was “not sure yet” why the measure went down.

“One member was pretty specific that cola was an issue for him. I think Clyde pointed that out in his remarks. But the rest? I think there's a few different issues,” he said.

“And so we went in last couple of days. We knew that it was going to be close. There were some members that were expressing concerns. But yeah, there's a lot of members that weren't here as well.”

Republicans say their bill would allocate about $7 billion in total discretionary funding, up 5.6 percent from current levels, with increases for chamber operations, U.S. Capitol Police, the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office and the Library of Congress.

The bill would also decrease funding for the Architect of the Capitol, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled and joint items including the Joint Economic Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation.

Valadao said from the floor ahead of the vote that the bill “balances the legislative branches capacity to effectively serve the American people in a fiscally responsible manner.”

“It also includes modest increases to ensure the safety of the Capitol complex and the work of the Capitol Police as well as the institutions that support our support such as the Library of Congress and the Government Accountability Office.”

While Democrats have described the spending levels in the proposed funding bill as “reasonable,” the party has come out against the overall legislation due to what it argues are partisan “messaging provisions.”

“This bill contains provisions that eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and allows for discrimination towards the LGBTQI+ community,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the subcommittee that wrote the bill, said on the floor Thursday morning.

“This bill removes a provision to eliminate or reduce plastic waste across the legislative branch of government, further contributing to climate change's impacts. In addition, it eliminates a requirement for members to lease low-emission vehicles,” he said. 

House Republicans are expected to vote on the remaining seven bills after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week.

However, additional challenges lie ahead in the second batch of bills. They include riders on hot-button areas such as abortion that could prove to be a key test for Republicans in the months leading up to the November races, particularly as Democrats continue to hammer the GOP on reproductive rights.

Updated at 11:51 a.m.