When Congress returns from recess next week, the House will consider three noncontroversial spending measures as a “minibus,” a bundle of two or three individual spending bills. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider HR 5895, a minibus spending bill combining the Energy-Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-VA appropriations measures.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) is coordinating with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to execute an appropriations process for Fiscal 2019 that avoids another massive Omnibus spending package. Last year, Speaker Ryan had to talk President Trump out of vetoing the 2018 Omnibus package when it didn’t include funding for a border wall. Trump reluctantly signed the bill to avoid another shutdown but promised he would “NEVER sign another bill like this again” on Twitter. Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McConnell plan to send the President multiple minibus spending bundles to avoid a presidential veto.
Next week the Senate Appropriations Committee will follow Chairman Richard Shelby’s (R-Alabama) Fiscal 2019 appropriations calendar and consider the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending measures. The Transportation-HUD bill is an opportunity for Congress to increase investment in infrastructure while President Trump’s infrastructure package continues to stall.