The House began voting on appropriations bills today, starting with military construction and veterans' programs.
House Republicans boosted military spending above the level of agreed-to spending caps, which would necessitate cuts elsewhere in the budget (i.e., in the social programs Republicans hate), and also moved some spending into the sequestration-exempted slush fund called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The bill would also block most releases from Guantanamo and make said prison more difficult to close.
Here is a summary from Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's office:
H.R. 2029 appropriates $76.057 billion in discretionary budget authority for veterans' programs and military construction for FY 2016, which is $4.2 billion (5.9%) above FY 2015 levels….Accounting for mandatory programs, including veterans’ pensions, the measure provides a total of $171 billion in spending…Republicans are developing this year's spending bills based on their budget resolution’s adherence to sequester level discretionary spending caps for FY 2016…Because this MilCon-VA appropriations bill includes an increase larger than 0.29%, cuts to other non-defense Appropriations subcommittees’ 302(b) allocations will be necessary without an agreement to replace the sequester. At the same time, Republicans are exempting defense from the sequester by shifting $38 billion of the President’s base defense request into the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) war funding account, relieving pressure to replace the sequester for non-defense priorities.
(emphasis added)
The bill passed 255 to 163.
236 Republicans and 19 Democrats voted for it. 159 Democrats and 4 Republicans voted against it.
Here are the 19 Democrats:
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Brian Higgins (NY-26)
Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-46)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Mark Takai (HI-01)
Here are the 4 Republicans:
Jeff Denham (CA-10)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Cynthia Lummis (WY-AL)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Before that final vote, Chris Van Hollen (MD-08) and Mick Mulvaney (SC-05) offered three amendments to strike down each section of the OCO provision mentioned above. Each one failed with a similar vote.
The first failed 191 to 229.
164 Democrats and 27 Republicans voted for it. 210 Republicans and 19 Democrats voted against it. Darrell Issa (CA-49) voted present.
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Seth Moulton (MA-06)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Mark Takai (HI-01)
Here are the 27 Republicans who voted for it:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Doug Collins (GA-09)
Scott DesJarlais (TN-04)
John Duncan (TN-02)
Scott Garrett (NJ-05)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Paul Gosar (AZ-04)
Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
Tim Huelskamp (KS-01)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Jim Jordan (OH-04)
Raul Labrador (ID-01)
Cynthia Lummis (WY-AL)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Tom McClintock (CA-04)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Scott Perry (PA-04)
Bill Posey (FL-08)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
Matt Salmon (AZ-05)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
David Schweikert (AZ-06)
Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05)
Scott Tipton (CO-03)
Rob Woodall (GA-07)
Ted Yoho (FL-03)
The second amendment failed 192 to 229. 163 Democrats and 29 Republicans voted for it. 209 Republicans and 20 Democrats voted against it. Issa again voted present.
The 19 Democrats who voted against the prior amendment also voted against Mulvaney’s. Karen Bass (CA-37), who voted for the prior amendment, voted against this one.
This amendment lost the support of Bill Posey (FL-08) and Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05) but picked up the support of Mo Brooks (AL-05), Glenn Grothman (WI-06), Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), and Bradley Walker (NC-06).
The third amendment failed 190 to 231. 161 Democrats and 29 Republicans voted for it. 210 Republicans and 21 Democrats voted against it. Issa again voted present.
Henry Cuellar (TX-28), who voted for the prior two amendments, voted against this one.
The House also voted down amendments on medical marijuana and Guantanamo, but I will address them in separate diaries.