Iowa's Zach Nunn says Senate short-term spending bill likely DOA in House as shutdown nears
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U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, says a short-term government funding bill being advanced by the Senate is likely "dead on arrival" in the House and he wants to see any funding package both cut spending and strengthen border security.
The U.S. government will shut down Oct. 1 ― Sunday ― if Congress doesn't come to an agreement on funding by Saturday. A shutdown would furlough thousands of federal employees and halt or delay government services. Some services deemed essential would continue, but federal employees would be required to work without pay.
The Democratic-led Senate advanced a deal Tuesday night that would fund the government for six weeks and include money for U.S. disaster relief and aid for Ukraine. The bill, which has bipartisan support, still needs a final vote to pass the chamber. It then would go to the Republican-majority House.
"I think that’s probably dead on arrival in the House," Nunn said Wednesday in an interview with the Des Moines Register. "And the reason being is it does nothing to actually cut spending. If anything, it actually adds to the deficit that we’re already doing by advancing a number of programs even the Senate says need to be reformed. Twinned with that, it does very little, if it’s not outright negligent, in addressing border security."
The House is focused on passing individual long-term appropriations bills with steep spending cuts that Democrats say violate a deal that Republicans made with President Joe Biden this summer when they voted to raise the debt ceiling.
"We do not want to see the government shut down, but it will not be a continuing resolution like the Senate does," Nunn said. "It will be a stopgap that would cut spending in real ways but provide a short runway to finish the appropriation bills that still remain in the House."
Zach Nunn says government appropriations bills need to go through committee process
As of midday Wednesday, the House had passed one of its 12 government funding bills for the upcoming year, a measure funding military construction projects and veterans affairs.
Nunn said House Republicans will soon move to hold votes on bills funding the State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Agriculture.
"That’s nearly 80% of the overall discretionary spending," he said. "I think that that is the right move to be making. And while I would have liked to have seen this happen much earlier, the reality is this is where we are and we’re making progress on it."
Nunn said it's important to him that spending bills go through the normal committee process before receiving a vote by the full House.
"I think it’s important for the American people to know that there are folks who are committed to the constitutional process, not simply passing continuing resolutions which take whatever we had last year and add some more money for inflation on top of it," he said.
Zach Nunn introduces bills to block congressional pay, fundraising during a shutdown
Nunn has introduced a pair of bills to dock pay for members of Congress in the event of a shutdown and to stop them from fundraising during it.
Another bill supported by Nunn would ensure members of the military continue to receive pay even if the government shuts down.
The "No Work, No Pay Act," would fine members of Congress one day's pay for each day the government is shut down. Nunn's staff said he will have his paycheck withheld if the government does shut down.
"I feel very strongly here that if D.C. is going to shut down the federal government then the folks in charge, including members of Congress, should not be getting paid," Nunn said.
He also criticized lawmakers who are fundraising for their campaigns off the possibility that the government will shut down. His "People Before Politics Act" would prevent fundraising during a shutdown.
"If the government is not functioning and shuts down, everyone should be all hands on deck in D.C. making sure that we do our job to pass budgets and open up the government again," he said. "Not going back to fundraisers back home and thinking about their next election and how they’re going to exploit this next crisis for their own campaign opportunity."
Asked if he had anyone specific in mind when writing the bill, Nunn said "I have five people in mind" and added "I think it's pretty obvious who they are."
Five Republicans bucked their party last week to block the House from considering a defense spending bill.
Chuck Grassley says some House lawmakers are taking a 'kamikaze' approach to the shutdown issue
Separately on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley told the Register that the costs of shutting down and re-opening government, as well as disruptions to services, were reason enough to avoid a shutdown. And he strongly criticized hardliners in the House who have repeatedly declined to support proposals from Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
"Even more idiotic in this whole argument about shutting down the government is the fact that people say they want to accomplish A, B, C or X, Y, Z," Grassley said. "And so you shut the government down and then a few days later, or in one instance three weeks later, you get so much heat that you open government up again and you didn't accomplish A, B, C or X, Y, Z."
He said he would support an amendment to make continuing resolutions automatic, thus avoiding future government shutdowns, if the proposal came up for a vote.
"And that would just take all of the wind out of the sails of the 20 people in the House of Representatives that are kamikaze as they approach this whole issue," Grassley said.
Democrats say Republicans are 'playing political games' with funding stance
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a news conference Tuesday that a shutdown will harm Iowans who rely on government programs like food assistance.
She called on Iowa's all-Republican congressional delegation to work across the aisle to prevent that from happening.
More: Iowa Democrats say Republicans 'playing political games' while government shutdown looms
"If they would decide to put politics aside and work across the aisle to find compromise, a resolution could make it out of the House that would be palatable to the Senate," Hart said. "But instead, Republicans are busy playing political games and trying to ram through massive cuts that have no shot at making it through the Senate."
Des Moines Register reporter Galen Bacharier contributed to this article.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Zach Nunn says funding deal must cut spending, address border security
