The House passed a nearly $57 billion appropriations bill Thursday to fund the departments of Energy and Interior along with other agencies, setting up a testy funding battle with the White House ahead of a Nov. 17 government shutdown.
The amendment initially failed, but after several representatives pulled their accidental votes from the bill and Rep. Maxine Waters didn’t participate in the second vote, the amendment was able to pass. Democrats, on the other hand, pushed back on the bill, arguing the measure doesn’t do enough to combat climate change while taxpayers are left footing the bill on disaster relief. During her floor remarks, subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur raised objections to the bill cutting nuclear nonproliferation programs that aim to reduce global risk, as well as a number of what Democrats called “poison pills.
Furthermore, the bill has a number of provisions that Democrats have deemed as “poison pills,” measures that take aim at the White House’s more liberal stances by blocking funds to initiatives related to environmental justice and critical race theory. The chamber adopted Thursday a measure that would prohibit funds for the DOE Office of Scientific Workforce Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.