House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole is planning for Hill Republicans to land on a government funding topline number that is above the White House’s request, and he’s been talking with his Senate counterpart about the matter as Capitol Hill girds for another major spending fight.
In a brief interview Monday, the Oklahoma Republican said he was expecting “a tough budget” and he didn’t rule out the possibility of another stop-gap spending measure to keep the government funded if a larger agreement can’t be reached by Sept. 30.
House GOP leaders are still discussing funding toplines and plans with the Trump administration, and Cole said he has been talking “back and forth” with Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins on the same topic.
Notably, Cole said Hill Republicans will likely pursue a funding topline above what the White House has requested. That could clash with demands from House GOP hardliners who said they secured “fiscal” assurances in exchange for shoring up the votes to pass the party-line megabill.
“We certainly are going to cut spending, but we probably are not going to be cutting at the level that [Office of Management and Budget] might have suggested,” Cole said. “They’ve been very helpful in this process. I’m not being critical of them, but at the end of the day, we have to maintain some critical capabilities.”
At the same time, Cole laid out the reality that the Senate’s appropriations process, which includes bipartisan input on bills from the outset, will also yield a higher topline number than the House, necessitating cross-chamber negotiations on a final product.
“They have to get to 60,” said Cole. “We usually cooperate at the end. So again, if you want to cut spending, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to do it.”
Privately, other Republicans are wary that going too far above the White House’s topline funding request could push the Trump administration to lean harder into unilaterally cutting funding that’s already been approved by lawmakers.
That could include OMB chief Russ Vought seeking significant cuts known as “pocket rescissions,” which don’t need Congressional sign-off if sent to Capitol Hill within a certain number of days ahead of a government funding deadline. It’s a move that Collins — and the Government Accountability Office — have warned would be illegal.
But in the interview Monday, Cole acknowledged that House GOP leaders are only just now turning back to full-time appropriations planning after slogging through weeks of pushing through Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
House Republicans are voting on their defense appropriations bill this week and leadership is starting to whip the bill Monday night. Cole said he felt “pretty good” about its chances of passing with enough GOP support.
