Congress scrambles to avert shutdown after weekend delay

Congress is scrambling to avert a partial government shutdown by Friday’s funding deadline, a threat that became more pronounced after leaders failed to unveil a deal over the weekend.

Top lawmakers were aiming to release their plan to avoid a shutdown Sunday, but a last-minute snafu delayed the process — forcing Congress to begin the week without a plan to keep Washington’s lights on in tow.

That plan included a package of five full-year spending bills due Friday and a continuing resolution to keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funded through the end of the fiscal year, but disagreements over the DHS stopgap pushed back the timeline, according to a source familiar with the matter. Republicans say recent involvement from the White House in negotiations prompted the holdup.

Also this week, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is set to hold a hearing as part of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden, but its star witness — Hunter Biden — will not be in attendance after declining an invitation to testify.

And the House will consider a host of energy-related bills on the floor this week as part of what one top Republican billed “energy week.”

Government funding

Lawmakers are heading into the week without a proposal to stave off a government shutdown after leaders blew through their plan to unveil legislative text Sunday due to eleventh-hour hangups.

Congress is staring down a Friday deadline to approve the six remaining appropriations bills that fund the departments of Defense; Homeland Security; Health and Human Services; Education; and State, in addition to the IRS, general government and foreign operations.

Top leaders planned to roll out their funding deal Sunday, which included a package of five appropriations bills and a continuing resolution to fund the DHS through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Appropriators had to turn to a DHS stopgap amid deep disagreements between the two parties over immigration and border security.

But recent involvement from the White House threw that timeline off track, Republicans claimed. Part of the holdup is that Democrats are requesting more funding for pay equity for the Transportation Security Administration, while Republicans want additional money for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention and enforcement efforts, according to a source familiar with the matter.

A White House official told Politico on Sunday that “Republicans want to underfund DHS,” which Raj Shah, deputy chief of staff for communications for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), called “misleading and counterproductive to reaching a bipartisan agreement to avoid a government shutdown.”

Friday’s funding deadline is the latest time this Congress that lawmakers are facing the clock to avert a shutdown. Hard-line House conservatives have held leadership’s feet to the fire, demanding steep spending cuts and controversial policy riders as part of the government funding process.

Members of the right-flank re-upped that sentiment over the weekend, vowing to fight for their priorities this week — which could be the final shutdown showdown of fiscal 2024.

“Republicans are about to hand over the power of the purse to the swamp… ‘It’s the best we can do’ is not true, or inspiring to those getting hammered by inflation, open borders, and leftist lawfare. For those all in on Nov 2024 – we have a responsibility to fight NOW,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Oversight to hold impeachment hearing — without Hunter Biden

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is set to hold a hearing this week as part of its impeachment inquiry into President Biden without the GOP’s top witness, Hunter Biden, who declined an invitation.

The hearing — scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. — is titled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office.” Republicans invited Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business associate; Tony Bobulinski, a spurned associate of Biden’s who was only briefly involved in his business dealings and later became involved with former President Trump’s campaign; and Jason Galanis, Archer’s former associate who is serving time in federal prison on charges related to defrauding a Native American tribe.

Bobulinski and Galanis are both confirmed for the hearing, according to a committee spokesperson. The panel is still waiting to hear back from Archer’s attorney.

Missing from the lineup, however, will be Hunter Biden, who turned down the GOP’s offer to appear on the panel of witnesses. In a letter to Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) last week, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, said his client “declines your invitation to this carnival sideshow.”

Lowell said he and Biden would not be able to attend because of a court hearing the next day in California. But he also tore into the GOP’s impeachment inquiry and plans for this week’s public hearing, calling it a “blatant planned-for-media event” and “an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended.”

Hunter Biden appeared before lawmakers last month for a closed-door deposition that lasted nearly seven hours. Biden testified “I did not involve my father in my business.”

The declined invitation to testify publicly is the latest development in the long-running saga over Hunter Biden’s participation in the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into his father.

Republicans issued Hunter Biden a subpoena last year, requesting he sit for a closed-door deposition. Biden refused, offering to participate in a public hearing rather than a private deposition out of concern that his testimony would be selectively leaked — which the committee said no to. Biden’s team has frequently pointed out that Comer previously said he would “drop everything” if Hunter Biden wanted to testify publicly.

Instead of appearing for his deposition, Hunter Biden delivered a statement at the Capitol declaring that his father was not involved in his business. Republicans then moved to hold him in contempt of Congress, but before the full House voted, Biden said he would sit for the closed-door deposition, which he went forward with last month.

Now, as Hunter Biden refuses to sit for the hearing, Comer is pointing out his initial request to testify publicly.

“It is surprising given Mr. Biden’s complaints about participating in a ‘closed-door’ deposition regarding the Biden family’s business dealings. Only a few months ago, Hunter Biden demanded — outside the United States Capitol — a public hearing where he would answer questions in front of the American people,” Comer wrote in a letter to Lowell on Friday.

“After facing questions during a deposition, Mr. Biden decided to reverse his position. The only conclusion that one can reach is that Mr. Biden knows his public testimony would not withstand scrutiny,” he added.

House GOP launches “energy week”

House Republicans are turning their attention to energy policy this week, bringing a number of energy-related bills to the floor for consideration.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) teed up a handful of energy measures this week, including a bill to prohibit a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing and resolutions that say “a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy” and another that denounces “the harmful, anti-American energy policies of the Biden administration.”

Scalise previewed the chamber’s “energy week” during the GOP’s retreat in West Virginia last week.

“Next week on the House floor, we’re dedicating the week to what we’re gonna call energy week, bringing bills on the House floor next week that will promote American energy to lower costs for families who recognize this. They know there’s no reason they should be paying more for energy and benefiting countries like Russia,” Scalise said during a press conference.

House Republicans have made energy policy a central part of their platform this Congress. Last March, the conference passed an energy package, dubbed the Lower Energy Costs Act, that received the coveted H.R. 1 label.

Updated on Monday, March 18 at 11:19 a.m.