House GOP Pushes Conservative Policies in Government Funding Bills

Republicans are using three key government funding bills to advance their social agenda, including funding for Trump's border wall, restrictions on abortion and transgender healthcare, and bans on diversity and drag performances.

House Republicans are seizing the opportunity presented by three key government funding bills to pass conservative priorities on abortion, diversity, and drag performances. The House is set to consider appropriations bills this week for the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the State Department and foreign operations for fiscal year 2025.

This ambitious schedule is part of a broader effort by House GOP leaders to have their 12 individual appropriations bills passed before the August recess. However, Republicans are going beyond simply funding the government by September 30th and are using the spending race as a platform to advance conservative social policies before the November election, when they risk losing the House majority.

House GOP Pushes Conservative Policies in Government Funding Bills

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has prioritized three culture war-heavy spending bills this week. These bills include:

* A provision to allocate $600 million for the construction of President Trump's border wall, along with a policy directive requiring Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to erect physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border expeditiously.

House GOP Pushes Conservative Policies in Government Funding Bills

* Restrictions prohibiting the use of funds for abortion services in both the DHS and defense bills, including blocking "paid leave and travel or related expenses of a servicemember or their dependents to obtain an abortion or abortion-related services" in the defense bill.

* Bans on funding for programs like drag queen story hour and the hiring of drag performers as military recruiters in the defense spending bill, arguing that such programs "bring discredit upon the military."

House GOP Pushes Conservative Policies in Government Funding Bills

Furthermore, all three bills block federal dollars from being used for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, a priority that House Republicans also pushed for in the last spending fight. Similarly, the defense and DHS bills impose restrictions on those departments enacting critical race theory (CRT) programs.

Despite modest increases in defense and DHS spending for fiscal year 2025, Republicans aim to slash funding for the State Department significantly. House Republicans are working towards a topline of roughly $1.6 trillion in discretionary government funding, guided by last year's Fiscal Responsibility Act.

House GOP Pushes Conservative Policies in Government Funding Bills

However, unlike last year's inflated final numbers, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole and Speaker Mike Johnson have pledged to adhere strictly to the topline number. The defense bill and DHS bill will see increases of approximately $9 billion and $3 billion, respectively, over 2024, while the State Department bill represents an 11% reduction from last year.

President Biden has already threatened to veto the bills, highlighting the partisan divide over the proposals. Democrats have voiced their opposition, and the White House has issued a statement of administration policy emphasizing the detrimental consequences of the bills' partisan policy provisions.

The spending battle is expected to heat up this week as the House Rules Committee considers the three bills on Tuesday before they face a chamber-wide vote. The outcome will provide a glimpse into the potential for compromise or further gridlock as the November elections approach.