SENATORS ARE PUTTING TOGETHER a nine-bill spending package that will cost more than $1 trillion to make up for lost time in the appropriations process as the Nov. 17 government funding deadline inches closer. The so-called maxibus will be close in scale to an omnibus spending package, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports — something that Republicans pledged they would try to avoid.
The huge spending bill, however, is seen as a necessity by some Republicans While the maxibus has no chance of passing the House, Senate leadership’s current strategy is to get the bills through the chamber to enhance senators’ negotiating leverage with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
But Senate conservatives, who want Johnson to take the lead on spending, will oppose this effort — and House conservatives will criticize it as well. House Republicans say their slim majority will spend the coming week trying to pass full-year spending bills that have no chance of clearing the Democratic-majority Senate, even as jitters about the deadline spread among their own members (Reuters).
THE CROSS-CAPITOL TACTICS BEG THE QUESTION: Are lawmakers — and particularly a small but powerful band of hard-line House Republicans — still capable of compromise?
“We shouldn’t be trying to jam each other on this,” said House Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.). “We’ve established that the majority of each party wants to keep the government running.”
The Senate GOP conference will hold a special meeting for members this afternoon as they search for a resolution to Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) military holds, which now affect more than 370 military promotions. A Senate Democrat-led solution is expected to hit the floor this week, The Hill’s Al Weaver reports, but Republicans are growing increasingly desperate to find a solution, with some taking their complaints public to the Senate floor last week and declining to rule out supporting a standing resolution that would allow the chamber to greenlight the promotions in bloc through the end of next year.
The Hill: Two senators from Maine asked the U.S. Army inspector general on Monday to provide a full accounting of interactions with a reservist before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in the deadliest shooting in the state’s history.
The House meets at 10 a.m.
The Senate convenes at 10 a.m.
The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 11:30 a.m. Biden at 4:45 p.m. will tour “American Possibilities: A White House Demo Day,” at The Showroom in Washington. He’ll return to the White House.
Vice President Harris will participate with Biden in the President’s Daily Brief in the Oval Office. Harris’s interview with SiriusXM Urban View’s Joe Madison, known as The Black Eagle, will air this morning.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed the Middle East for Tokyo where he met with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio at 5:40 p.m. local time (early Tuesday morning in Washington), then with Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko half an hour later. Ahead of a Group of Seven working dinner in Tokyo, Blinken also met with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at 1:30 p.m. at IRS headquarters will describe expected customer and filing improvements during the upcoming tax season, which the administration credits to resources enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. (The administration opposes House Republicans’ efforts to defund IRS enforcement funding.)
The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2 p.m. and will include national security spokesperson John Kirby.
