House conservatives on Thursday defeated a procedural vote on a Pentagon funding bill, preventing the legislation from moving forward in the chamber for the second time this week And dealing an embarrassing blow to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Six hardline Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the rule for the Pentagon appropriations bill, which was enough to defeat the effort. The final vote was 212-216.
The failed vote marks another disappointment for McCarthy, who has tried to advance the appropriations process — and appease the conference’s right flank — as the end-of-the-month government funding deadline inches closer.
Votes on rules — which govern debate for legislation — are typically partisan and predictable matters, with the majority party supporting the effort and the minority party opposing it. It is exceedingly rare to see them voted down on the floor.
But the failed vote Thursday comes after conservatives voted down the rule for the same bill on Tuesday.
The Speaker set Thursday’s vote after two conservatives who opposed the initial effort to advance the legislation change their stances.
Emerging from a closed-door House GOP conference meeting in the Capitol Wednesday evening, Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) — who opposed the procedural vote on Tuesday — said they would vote for the rule when it came to the floor again on Thursday.
They initially voted against the rule amid calls for steeper spending cuts and frustration that they had not yet received topline spending levels for all 12 appropriations bills. But during the meeting, McCarthy pitched members on a new proposal for a continuing resolution (CR) that also included a commitment that the remaining fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills would be marked up at $1.526 levels.
The CR proposal would also fund the government through Oct. 31 at fiscal year 2022 levels, include a bulk of the conference’s marquee border bill, and create a commission on the national debt to examine mandatory and discretionary spending.
Norman on Wednesday said he would vote for the rule when it came back to the floor for a vote because there was a “strong commitment” from leaders that the conference would work to move the 11 remaining appropriations bill. The House has just cleared one funding measure thus far.
Buck also confirmed that he would support the procedural vote following Wednesday’s meeting.
House GOP leadership has been looking to advance the Pentagon appropriations bill for more than a week.
The House was initially scheduled to hold the procedural vote on Sept. 13, but GOP leadership scrapped those plans after some conservatives said they would oppose the effort amid demands for deeper spending cuts.
Over the weekend, however, McCarthy said he would bring the bill to the floor “win or lose, and show the American public who’s for the Department of Defense, who’s for our military, who’s for giving them a pay raise and who’s for making sure we can take the wokeism out.”
But that plan led to another setback for McCarthy: five hardline conservatives bucked convention and voted against the rule, which was enough to prevent the legislation from advancing 212-214.
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