Should negotiations collapse between Speaker Boehner and Senate Democrats, the House is prepared to drop a bill which would keep the military funded in the event of a government shutdown.
Because the Senate won’t pass the House’s one-week continuing resolution, which cuts $12 billion of spending and funds the Defense Department, it’s still uncertain whether members of the military will get paychecks in the event of a shutdown. I’ve just checked in with Rep. Louie Gohmert’s office about the progress of his bill to fund military salaries.
It is clear that the best thing to do is completely fund the military and all its needs through the rest of the year and that has been the Speaker’s position. I relayed to the Speaker and all of the conference that I had just spoken to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison concerning the companion bill in the Senate. She has stated there are 70 Senators ready to vote for the bill immediately in order to ensure our military is paid on time.
However, a bill like this is normally required to pass the House first. The Speaker is very sensitive to that fact and is considering bringing it to the floor today if an agreement to fund the entire military budget for the year is not reached soon. The pressure is fortunately mounting now on both sides to take care of those who are fighting for us.
Basically, the bill’s got more than 140 co-sponsors and is ready to go to the floor if there’s no deal on funding the entire government. The expectation is that Republicans will bring it to the floor — it’s just not something that’ll be dealt with unless and until negotiations collapse.
