Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is considering bringing full-year appropriations bills — such as one to fund the Pentagon and pay the military — to the floor for a vote, he told Axios on Wednesday.
Why it matters: Bipartisan talks to reopen the government via a short-term spending stopgap bill are frozen. Now, Thune is at least contemplating other options.
- Bringing standalone appropriations bills to the floor would be a long and tortuous way to reopen the government, department by department.
- To pass a bundle of multiple appropriations bills — like the one that passed the Senate earlier this year — would require unanimous consent.
- But Thune could bring a single appropriation bill to the floor if it has already been passed by the House, like the Defense package.
What he's saying: "We're prepared to do that," Thune told Axios when asked at what point he would consider bringing committee-passed appropriations bills to the floor.
- He added, "that takes consent. We got to find out if the Dems are going to let us do anything while the government is shut down."
- "But yeah, I'm ready to call up the Defense approps bill," he said.
Zoom in: The strategy has the backing of Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), who thinks finished appropriations bills "should immediately be brought to the floor."
- "The top priority of everyone is getting the government reopened," Collins told Axios."If we are stymied, I think we should be proceeding with appropriations laws."
- Collins called for the Senate to designate members for a formal conference for the trio of bills that passed the Senate earlier this year. A conference is how the House and Senate hash out differences between bills.
The other side: "There's nothing holding him back from doing that," Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said of Thune potentially bringing the Defense bill to the floor.
- "That does not change where we are right now in the CR," she added. "We still have to negotiate with the House. The President has to sign it, so it's a long way from anywhere."
- "I prefer that the Republican leader talks to the Democratic leader, and they come up with a decision on how we're going to move forward on all of this."
Between the lines: For the troops wondering if they will get paid, there's almost no way a full defense appropriations bill could pass both chambers by Oct. 15. They would likely miss a paycheck.
- The vote would force Democrats to make a difficult decision: Pass a standalone bill to ensure that troops get paid, or preserve their full shutdown leverage.
- But GOP leaders would risk losing their political leverage, too.
The intrigue: Thune's apparent openness to a standalone Defense appropriations bill is a slight departure from steady Republican insistence — including from Thune — that the best way to guarantee troops are paid is for Democrats to pass the short-term spending bill that has already cleared the House.
- Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to call back his members to vote on a smaller bill that would just deal with military pay.
- Senate action on appropriation bills would also heap more pressure on Johnson to bring the House back to work.
