Despite voting on dozens of amendments, leaders did not bring the bill to the floor for a final vote. Rather than face another embarrassing defeat, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) opted to regroup after the holiday to give members a break.
It’s the latest setback for House Republicans, who must pass five more regular appropriations bills through their razor-thin GOP majority without help from Democrats who oppose the steep spending cuts proposed by Republicans.
All five bills have been punted, blocked or otherwise face issues that have long roiled the House GOP conference. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) told The Hill that he could not support that bill because of the steep spending cuts.
“The cuts are too deep,” Molinaro said, adding they “disproportionately hurt states like mine and constituents like mine, and I am a firm ‘no.’”
The Labor-HHS bill would slash or eliminate funding from a range of programs that deal with everything from family planning to teen pregnancy and even the HIV epidemic.
The legislation is also facing opposition because of its anti-abortion provisions, which are dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The bill would cut all federal funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminate Title X family planning grants and stop the implementation of two Biden administration executive orders intended to increase access to abortion care.
