House passes defense appropriations after multiple failures

After two failed rule votes, a procedural vote then having to go back to the Rules Committee to strip Ukraine funding out of the bill, and another procedural vote, the House finally passed its version of the annual Pentagon funding bill that will never become law Thursday night.

The House spent about two weeks jumping hurdles to try and come to an agreement on the Department of Defense appropriations bill, and just two days before the government is set to shut down, they were able to pass it.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: WHAT WILL BE OPEN AND WHAT WILL BE CLOSED

Two Republicans voted against the bill, Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Ken Buck (R-CO), but two Democrats voted for the bill, Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).

Late Wednesday night, the bill looked to be on the path to failure once again as an amendment that would have stripped a provision that provided $300 million to train Ukrainian soldiers failed, and in consequence, opposition to the bill grew.

So, leadership worked to come up with a solution that would allow the bill to garner enough support. They settled on sending the bill back to the Rules Committee, after the original rule on the bill had already passed, and stripped the Ukraine aid out of the bill and put that in a different vehicle that would be voted on separately.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

While the House was able to get this bill across the line, it has no chance of becoming law due to the provisions in the bill and the lack of Ukraine aid. In consequence, it doesn’t do anything to actually avoid a government shutdown that is set to happen on Sunday.

But it will allow the House to at least be in a stronger negotiating position when they negotiate with the Democrat-controlled Senate, which has yet to pass any appropriations bills off the floor.