LETHAL ADDITIVES Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to pass all dozen annual spending bills through the House before the August recess. The ambitious goal prompts an obvious question, after Republicans’ months-long spending spectacle that finally concluded in March: What’s different this time? There are some early signs that House GOP leaders want to learn from the mistakes of last year — namely, avoiding the most contentious policy fights. Take banning the mail delivery of abortion pills, a poisonous rider that first toppled House GOP funding ambitions last summer. Don’t just assume Republicans will push that same provision this year, according to Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the agriculture funding panel tasked with handling that bill. “You’re sure it hasn’t changed in the bill? Well, wait around. You’re in the news business. You’ll have news,” Harris told us. That’s good for centrist Republicans, who are pressuring House GOP leaders to forgo the most controversial policy riders — or risk repeated failure to pass the full slate of funding bills. For Johnson, devoutly anti-abortion, that could mean rethinking language like blocking funding for teen pregnancy prevention or protecting employers from discriminating against workers who seek birth control. “My concerns haven't changed,” swing-district Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) told us, adding that centrists have already voiced their concerns to appropriators and “hope that they can consider that as they draft” funding bills. Of course, the main slim-majority problem hasn’t changed: Appeasing moderate Republicans is likely to sour others. Freedom Caucus firebrand Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) stressed that the bills should still contain GOP policy wins, even if they split the conference last year — particularly the abortion pill provision. “At the end of the day, if we can move appropriations bills that adopt the policies we advanced last year, within some degree of reason in either direction, and get the appropriations bills moved, then that’s our job. We should do that,” Roy said. “It’s going to be ambitious to try to get that done by the end of September,” he added. “There’s obviously going to be difficulties. You know, [the agriculture spending bill] hit a wall with mifepristone. There’s always issues.” How this episode went last year: In the hours before the House adjourned for August recess last summer, Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) helped lead the whipping effort for the agriculture funding bill, the first sign of major vote-counting challenges ahead. An ally of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, he worked to appease fiscal conservatives like Roy while also retaining support among centrists like Molinaro. He failed. “So, I just lost four moderates and picked up two Freedom Caucus guys,” Graves said at the time. Joking now that recalling the episode is “ripping the scab off” after months of therapy, the Louisiana Republican said the funding totals were often less contentious than language like the ban on mailing abortion pills. “Topline numbers were an issue. But I think the policy, in many cases, was the larger obstacle,” he said. Funding levels aren’t expected to be as problematic for House GOP leaders trying to whip the spending bills this summer anyway. Even though they’re ignoring tens of billions of dollars in non-defense funding allowed under last year’s debt limit agreement, the totals are still higher than the numbers they settled on last summer. Second-rodeo advantage: Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, a senior Republican appropriator, said the conference has “learned a lot” since last year, when only seven out of 12 spending bills passed on the floor amid much GOP strife. He predicted that more than seven bills will make it to the finish line this year, but it’s unclear if Republicans will ultimately dial back on the funding and policy provisions that tore apart their conference last summer. “It’s aggressive,” Womack said of the ambition to pass a dozen funding measures in the next few months. “There will be some headwinds as we face it. We’re going to have to shore up our own votes on our side.” — Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma
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