Take Two

Republican House leadership is trying again to put a spending bill together as a fiscal deadline looms. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) had intended for the GOP-controlled House to vote yesterday on a new continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government open past October 1.

But at the last minute he pulled the spending bill in the face of opposition from fiscal hawks and defense spending boosters making mutually exclusive demands.

“I’m a hell no,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) on X earlier this week. “Congress is spending our country into oblivion, and this bill doesn’t cut spending.”

I’m voting Hell No on the “Continuing Appropriations and Other Matter Act” this week.

I don’t care which bright shiny object is attached to it, or which fake fight we start and won’t finish.

Congress is spending our country into oblivion, and this bill doesn’t cut spending.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 9, 2024

On the flip side, reports Roll Call, were folks like Rep. Mike Rogers (R–Ala.) who said that the continuing resolution was “terrible for defense” because it didn’t increase spending beyond a few extra billion for new submarines.

Another bone of contention was whether to pair the CR with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require people to show proof of citizenship before voting. Some Republicans thought including the SAVE Act, a conservative priority that’s backed by a handful of Democrats too, would line up votes behind a CR. Others, citing Senate Democrats’ opposition to the SAVE Act, argued for a “clean” CR that just kept the government open.

So, under the pressure of members of his own party to cut spending and increase spending, Johnson canceled a vote hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Politico reports that Johnson is hoping to try again next week with another continuing resolution that will fund the government through the end of March and includes the SAVE Act. Meanwhile, Senate appropriators are starting to hash out a spending bill that is not paired with the SAVE Act and would fund the government until December.

IVF Funding: Meanwhile in the Senate, another awkward dustup is brewing over a bill that would force the government and private insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF). Just such a bill sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D–Wis.) was blocked by Republicans back in June.

At the time, Republicans had put forward an alternative (ultimately failed) measure that would prevent states from banning IVF but wouldn’t require the federal government to fund the practice.

Since then, former President Donald Trump has come out in favor of requiring insurance companies to cover IVF. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.), sensing a wedge issue, is now reportedly looking to make Republicans vote on the issue again.

It puts the Senate GOP in the awkward position of either supporting a bill that bosses around insurance companies to cover a practice opposed by many pro-lifers or publicly coming out against Trump’s position.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Scenes from Washington, D.C.: The stereotype of D.C. as a one-company town where everyone talks about policy and politics all the time is largely true. Last Tuesday, for instance, it was harder to find a bar that wasn’t screening the Harris-Trump debate.

Yet even the city’s crowd of news addicts knows when a business goes too far. Witness the reaction to the unveiling of a new Political Pattie’s bar (slogan: “putting the lit in politics”) that is set to open in the old location of U Street gay bar The Dirty Goose.

The reaction online has been…less than positive.

The tagline on the building is—no joke—”putting the ‘lit’ in politics” https://t.co/y7y5PPTeYm

— Jessica Sidman (@jsidman) September 11, 2024

Do you know what DC needed? A political-themed bar. It’s hard to get anyone to talk about politics around here. Finally there can be a place. https://t.co/3rioEC3o4N

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 11, 2024

look at how they deyassified her pic.twitter.com/Kvqpre5iNk

— JB (@JBfromDC89) September 11, 2024

• Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori died at the age of 86 on Wednesday in the country’s capital of Lima. Fujimori, a former engineer, initially won election in 1990 as an outsider populist opposed to the free market agenda of his main opponent, the classical liberal novelist (and occasional Reason contributor) Mario Vargas Llosa. Fujimori would eventually be forced from office over his government’s corruption and human rights abuses, for which he was eventually jailed. He received a pardon in 2023.
• Another ex-Bush administration official, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, has endorsed Kamala Harris.
• Francine, which made landfall as a Category Two hurricane and has since been downgraded to a tropical depression, slams into Louisiana, causing floods, property damage, and downing power lines.
• Meanwhile, the Bridge Fire in Southern California burns on.
• Rents are rising faster than home prices.
• The crew of SpaceX’s Polaris mission performs the first-ever private citizen spacewalk.

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