UPDATED: House Republicans Set To Try and Reopen Some Parts of the Government Again
UPDATE AT BOTTOM
Yesterday, House Republicans failed to pass funding bills for Washington D.C., Veterans Affairs, and national parks. Because the bills were brought to the House under expedited rules the bills required a two-thirds majority to pass, thereby allowing House Democrats to defeat the bills.
However, according to The Washington Times House Republicans are planning on having votes today on legislation that would fund Veterans Affairs, national parks, the National Institutes of Health, and pay for the National Guard. The Washington Times goes on to report that today's votes will only require a simple majority to pass, making it harder for the Democrats to block the passage of the bills.
This Republican approach is being rejected by many Democrats on Capitol Hill, who see the strategy as a means for the Republicans to pick and choose which parts of the government they want to remain functioning for the duration of the partial government shutdown. According to The New York Times, "Democrats say they will not negotiate any changes to the health care law, nor will they reopen the government piece by piece. To do so, they said, would only encourage Republican brinkmanship."
TIME reported yesterday that the White House also rejected the House Republican's "piecemeal" strategy:
"These piecemeal efforts are not serious, and they are no way to run a government," said White House Spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "If House Republicans are legitimately concerned about the impacts of a shut down — which extend across government from our small businesses to women, children and seniors — they should do their job and pass a clean CR to reopen the government. The President and the Senate have been clear that they won't accept this kind of game-playing, and if these bills were to come to the President's desk he would veto them."
This post will be updated once the House votes on the latest funding proposals.
UPDATE
The House has passed legislation to reopen national parks and museums in a 252-173 vote.
7:02pm ET update: The House has passed funding legislation for the National Institutes of Health in a 254-171 vote.
9:00pm ET: Reason 24/7 noted earlier that the House passed legislation for the funding of the Washington D.C. government in a surprise voice vote.
