House to take up second package of spending bills

The House will consider a second “minibus” of five appropriations bill totaling roughly $383 billion. 

The package will include bills covering commerce, justice and science; agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration; interior, environment military construction and veterans affairs; and transportation and housing and urban development. 

The House is set to consider a first package of five spending bills starting Wednesday. 

Democrats are moving at a furious pace to pass all 12 annual spending bills through the House in June. 

The final bills, however, will look significantly different from those being considered this month. 

The Senate has yet to produce a single appropriations bill for 2020 as negotiations over spending levels between the White House and congressional leadership advance at a glacial pace. 

A meeting between the Senate GOP leadership and the White House on the issue is set for tomorrow, Politico reported. 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is hoping to avoid producing spending bills until a final agreement is reached. He’s said he may follow the lead of House Democrats and simply “deem” working spending levels, which would allow Senate appropriators to begin their work. 

Their final product will have to be reconciled with the House bills, which likely include significantly more funding for domestic programs. 

The House Appropriations Committee is also set to mark up the final two bills of be year Tuesday, including the controversial homeland security bill. 

That bill, which deals with border security and any potential physical barriers along the border, was at the center of a 35-day government shutdown earlier this year.