Negotiations over advancing a five-bill minibus appropriations bill in the Senate remain at an impasse due to conservative opposition. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wants senators to begin debate on the measure by waiving the Senate’s rules by unanimous consent. But Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are objecting because the assembled package includes Republican-sponsored earmarks in violation of the party’s conference rules. And Republicans on the Appropriations Committee oppose removing them from the legislation.
But the Senate can begin the minibus debate without waiving its rules. However, doing so gives senators leverage in negotiations over which amendments they can offer to the legislation during that debate. And proceeding under the Senate’s rules doesn’t guarantee that the contested earmark provisions remain in the minibus.
Senators can’t vote on the minibus until it is pending before the Senate. To assemble the five-bill package under the Senate rules, senators must first vote to proceed (i.e., to begin debate) to the House-passed Department of Defense Appropriations Act (HR 4016), which is presently pending on the Senate calendar. Once HR 4016 is pending before the Senate, Thune (or any other senator) must then offer an amendment to it that includes the four remaining bills constituting the minibus - Commerce, Justice, Science; Interior and Environment; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (as well as the Senate’s version of the defense funding bill).
