Tensions between Senate GOP appropriators and fiscal hawks are nearing a fever pitch, renewing fears of another government shutdown or a year-long spending patch ahead of the Jan. 30 deadline.
GOP conservatives are once again standing in the way as Republican leaders try to advance a five-bill FY2026 funding package and begin negotiations with the House. This group has a mix of concerns about the effort, from earmarks to high spending levels.
Meanwhile, Republican appropriators have been pushing hard for quick floor action. But the Senate will leave town today without holding an initial procedural vote as many had hoped. That leaves just two weeks until the holiday recess – and a weighty to-do list that includes the annual must-pass defense policy bill.
“We need to move forward. Jan. 30 is just around the corner,” Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) told us.
The brutal 43-day government shutdown unified Republicans, but that only belied the lingering hostility between the appropriators and fiscal hawks, from closed-door shouting matches to sexism allegations.
Thune’s headache. It’s a continuation of the Senate GOP Conference’s long-running tensions over the tactics that leaders in both parties have employed over the years to jam through thousand-page government spending bills.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune won his job in part by promising to make that a thing of the past. Conservatives cheered him on. But the reality of actually passing appropriations bills is starting to bite.
“If you’re somebody who’s a fiscal conservative, it makes sense to actually move appropriations bills because I think you’re going to get a better spending number and one that better reflects our priorities,” Thune said.
That argument isn’t quite resonating with the conservative holdouts, who are staying mum publicly.
Grouping the five bills into one package requires unanimous consent, which gives conservatives a ton of leverage. Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso have been working through the objections and have cleared some by offering amendment votes. Some appropriators are privately grumbling that the leadership isn’t doing enough.
But the problem is that the fiscal hawks — Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and others — are making demands that the GOP leadership almost certainly cannot accommodate.
Thune huddled with conservatives in his office late Wednesday. The South Dakota Republican declined to divulge details about the meeting, but said it’d be difficult to accede to conservatives’ demand on earmarks.
“The Appropriations Committee has done a lot of work already, and it’s hard to unwind that,” Thune said.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) would also never go for this. Collins’ ability to deliver funding for her home state will be huge for her reelection bid. More than half the GOP Conference requested earmarks, too.
Fiscal hawks also want to separate the Labor-HHS bill from the other four — Defense, Transportation-HUD, Commerce-Justice-Science and Interior. But pairing Defense with Labor-HHS has historically been key to securing Democrats’ support.
Arm-twisting. If Congress had to resort to a yearlong CR, Thune says that would only continue spending levels and other initiatives that were enacted under President Joe Biden and a Democratic-controlled Senate.
“I don’t think any of us want that,” added Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), an appropriator.
Thune technically has a “break-glass” option that could break the logjam: Moving to suspend the chamber’s rules governing appropriations bills, which requires 67 votes. But that would only ratchet up the intra-party friction — and Thune is effectively ruling it out.
“We’re trying to do this, as much as we can, through regular order and making sure that everybody has an opportunity to make their voices heard,” Thune told us.
