The late weeks of July signal the impending summer recess on Capitol Hill, and lawmakers in the House of Representatives attempted to make the most of their last few days in session before adjourning Thursday. Before heading off on break, legislators passed seemingly contradictory bills Wednesday and Thursday that were largely centered on defense spending and the war in Iran.
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But much of the legislation is expected to stall in the Senate, which will consider the House measures before departing Washington on Aug. 7. The bills are expected to face a lukewarm greeting over their ties to the SAVE America Act, the top legislative priority for President Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections. The voting measure, provisions of which Republicans have included in several recent must-pass bills, would restrict mail-in voting and impose strict proof of citizenship and voter identification requirements nationwide.
Here’s a look at the key bills pushed through the House and how they may fare in the upper chamber:
The National Defense Authorization Act
The NDAA is typically one of the most significant bipartisan bills Congress passes each year. But this year’s bill faces an unusually contentious battle after Senate Democrats shot down a similar version of the bill earlier this month.
House Republicans narrowly passed a $1 trillion defense package by a vote of 216-212 largely along party lines late Wednesday afternoon. All but six Democrats voted to oppose the bill, citing concerns over the unprecedented price tag (up $600 billion from last year’s funding) and support for the ongoing war in Iran.
“As we support anything in the defense area, we are de facto supporting this war with no end in sight,” Rep. Adam Smith, Washington Democrat, said of the bill.
The measure would strengthen the military relationship between the U.S. and Israel at a time when support for Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip is declining among Americans.
Also included are $10 billion in funding for voter identification enforcement and provisions that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification at the polls. The attempt to intertwine the two bills is unlikely to pass through the Senate, where lawmakers can block individual amendments.
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Iran War Funding
In a tight 216-214 vote, the House advanced a budget blueprint that would provide $95 billion in additional funding, $70 billion of which would go to the Iran war. The measure also includes $12 billion in agricultural aid for farmers and $10 billion more to enforce voter restrictions as part of the SAVE Act. Some Republicans expressed frustration that the bill lacked spending offsets.
Republican leadership passed the blueprint via reconciliation, a procedure that speeds up the legislative process by eschewing the typical two-thirds majority needed in the Senate. Broadly speaking, reconciliation allows lawmakers to pass measures pertaining to fiscal matters through the upper chamber in a simple party-line vote. The tactic has previously been used to pass controversial immigration funding and tax cuts.
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A Stock Trading Ban
The House also passed legislation that would bar lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children from buying individual stocks while in office.
But the bill, titled the Stop Insider Trading Act, doesn’t ban members of Congress from continuing to own, sell or reinvest payments from existing stocks. The bill also contains an unrelated provision that requires photo identification for voting, another attempt to attach provisions of the SAVE Act to legislation entering the Senate. Just 13 Democrats voted in support of the bill.
A Halt on Iran
Four Republicans joined House Democrats on Thursday to pass a measure curbing the Trump administration’s involvement in Iran. The vote follows war powers resolutions adopted by both chambers last month, which the Trump administration rejected as non-binding.
The bill, like the war powers resolutions, remains a largely symbolic measure that shows deep bipartisan divide about a war that initially saw strong support from Republican lawmakers.
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