Republicans are running out of time to fund Trump's Iran war

The News

Senate Republicans spent this week wrestling through divisions, reelecting John Thune as their leader, and pledging to confirm conservative judges while avoiding a government shutdown during their last two months in the majority.

They still haven’t figured out how to use their greatest power in the lame duck: another big party-line bill that would send billions to the Pentagon. Such a proposal could contain other GOP priorities; Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, dubbed it the “last supper” for the party’s reign.

Republicans have just a few more weeks to use the blunt power of budget reconciliation, which allows them to evade a filibuster to send President Donald Trump funding viewed as crucial by many in the Republican Party for depleted military reserves and ammunition after nine months of war. Using the tool, which Republicans wielded last year to pass a party line tax bill and this year for immigration enforcement funding, represents a crucial calculation for Thune to make as Democrats weigh blocking a government funding bill if it includes money for the Iran conflict.

But passing a party-line bill is not going to be easy: It requires 50 Senate votes, a majority in the House, and two unlimited Senate vote-a-ramas that defeated or retiring members may have little interest in enduring. And Senate Budget Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who would set the stage for another big party-line bill, said he’s worried the party isn’t moving quickly enough.

“Right now, I’m not getting engagement from the White House, from either Senate or House leadership. So if that’s going to happen, it’s going to come from the pressure from members here,” Johnson told Semafor on Tuesday.

Republicans are divided over whether they should shovel more money towards the Pentagon with the Iran war is ongoing, particularly since many in the GOP cite the conflict as one of the main reasons for the party’s brutal losses in this month’s midterm elections. Republicans are also growing more frustrated over the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who avoided a House impeachment on Tuesday but is facing sustained questions from congressional Republicans over Iran and his blocking of military promotions.

And Republicans say there still isn’t a blueprint on how to move forward.

“I think we’re going to have a plan,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., after a day of literally hours of internal GOP meetings. “If you’re asking me if we have a plan right now, I wouldn’t recognize it if it jumped up and yodeled and bit me in the butt.”

When it comes to more Pentagon funding in a party-line bill, there are real divisions emerging behind the scenes already.

On one side is Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who said “we need to get reconciliation done.” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Semafor the party needs to pass a “strong” reconciliation bill and that it’s not going to be aimed at Iran: “That has a lot more to do with funding our military and giving them what they need than it does the war.”

But Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., argued it would be “tone-deaf” to pass such a bill and vowed to oppose it. He said passing anything “to further or enhance the Iran war, I think that’s not listening to the electorate.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said, “I can’t imagine why we would do that.” Both Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are wary of using reconciliation.

Republicans would not brand the effort as an Iran war funding bill, but they would have a difficult argument to make if the conflict continues. Many Republicans have wanted the war to end as soon as it started.

unanswered questions

Thune said repeatedly this week that he’s not sure he or House Speaker Mike Johnson can round up the votes to get another reconciliation bill done. He said Pentagon funding is a “major issue that has to be addressed” but that he doesn’t know if he has 50 Republicans ready to pass a budget resolution and endure those prolonged amendment votes.

With a government funding deadline bearing down on Congress next month, putting a party-line funding bill on the table is “the only way we create some leverage with the Democrats,” argued Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a close Thune ally.

“If we just sit and wait for them to come to the table, they’ll figure they have leverage because they’ll have the majority in the new Congress. So the thing they have to recognize is we can put a reconciliation bill together,” Hoeven said.

There are competing priorities among Republicans of what that reconciliation bill would do. While Pentagon funding is the most obvious must for some Republicans, others would push to include measures to address the cost of living, elections, farm aid, and more.

“What we’re trying to do is jam 18 things into a four-thing box,” said Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va. “I may be a proponent of it. Because it’s very possible to try to get as much done as you can possibly get done before the other folks take over.”

Room for Disagreement

Justice said even Republican critics of the Iran war would have to come around eventually. “We’re there, like it or not like it. And if we’ve got folks there, and they need bullets and we can’t give them the bullets, shame on us,” he said.

“However you feel about [the war], really, if we don’t fund the military, we’re sending the wrong signal for even the ones who want to settle out sooner,” Hoeven said.

Burgess’s view

Welcome to the first legislative battle after the midterms. Democrats are starting to line up against anything funding the Iran war, which could leave reconciliation as Republicans’ only play. But it’s still a risky one.

There are logistical challenges: The Senate is only scheduled to be in session for four weeks the rest of the year, although Thune said he’s willing to add days and weeks to complete their agenda. If Republicans are going to move a big party-line bill, the earlier the better. If they wait until late in December to do it, lame-duck fatigue will have set in and outgoing Republicans will be itching to leave Washington.

In other words, it’s already late.

<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>