Path forward on government funding remains murky as House GOP plugs on with their spending bills

Congress appears to be right back where it was a couple months ago — staring down a looming deadline to fund the government, and House Republicans having trouble passing even their own versions of spending titles.

The next test for Speaker Mike Johnson comes Thursday morning, as leadership tries to pass the Financial Services bill on the floor. Two more bills with significant internal GOP issues — the Commerce-Justice-Science and Labor-HHS-Education bills — are slated for floor time next week. And leaders pulled the Transportation-HUD title earlier this week amid Republican dissent.

The Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden will get their input, of course, and the struggles on these bills do not bode will for Republicans’ path forward to avert a shutdown. But getting the bills through the House will be the first step.

Some interesting amendments from Wednesday night:

• The House adopted a measure barring the use of the terms “latinx” or “latin-x” in official documents. Seven Democrats — Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Matt Cartwright (Pa.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Mary Peltola (Alaska) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) — joined with Republicans in voting yes.
• Seventy Republicans joined with Democrats to vote down a Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) effort to block the acquisition of a new headquarters for the FBI. Greenbelt, Md., was reported as the site for the new headquarters earlier Wednesday, angering a Virginia delegation that pushed aggressively for their proposed location. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who said GSA “shamelessly caved to political pressure” and that its reputation had taken a “mortal hit” with the move, voted present.

One more thing: Senate HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) requested a classified briefing on the rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism around the country, especially in educational facilities, and sent a letter to Senate leaders asking them to support a 27 percent increase in funding for the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education.