Reporter's Notebook: House's final sprint puts SAVE America Act and Iran funding in play

The late Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said to me once that "we don’t do a lot in Congress. But when we do it, we do it all at once."

That is kind of where we find the House of Representatives today.

Today is the penultimate day in the House before the August recess. In fact, the House may not be here much at all until after the election.

So that’s why the House is trying to cram EVERYTHING into today.

HOUSE GOP VOTES TO PUNT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BATTLE TO AFTER NOVEMBER MIDTERMS

Let’s start with what the House approved late last night. It approved a stopgap spending bill, renewing all funding at current levels to avoid a fall shutdown in October. The bill would run through Dec. 4.

Fiscal conservatives liked the bill because it "kind of" saves money by simply renewing the current spending. By nature, these temporary bills do just that. They don’t add in new spending. So – in a way – that kind of holds the fiscal bottom line.

But looming over everything is the touchstone of the GOP’s agenda. That’s the SAVE America Act. The House today plans to advance a budget framework and prospectively include the SAVE America Act later on. The Senate must also adopt the same framework so it can use the special budget reconciliation process – which is immune from filibusters. But the House and Senate can’t get to the meat and potatoes of the bill without adopting the framework. That’s why today is so important.

What’s in "Reconciliation 3.0?" House Republicans will likely dump the SAVE America Act into the actual bill. They will also load up the bill with tens of billions to cover the war in Iran and restock the Pentagon with munitions. Money for agriculture programs will be in there, too.

SENATE PLOTS PERMANENT END TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS WITH BIPARTISAN PUSH

But here’s the rub. House and Senate Republicans aren’t on the same page. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says his body will likely consider the House-approved government funding plan. But that needs 60 votes and is subject to a filibuster. Most Democrats will reject the House’s interim spending plan since they weren’t involved in drafting it.

But that’s where Reconciliation 3.0 comes in.

"We will hold that, subject to obviously, being able to move a continuing resolution to fund the government. It's a possibility, that if necessary, we could pull that budget resolution passed by the House and use it to fund government," said Thune when pressed by yours truly yesterday.

In other words, the Senate won’t take up the House’s Reconciliation 3.0 plan any time soon. Many Senate Republicans have been cool to another reconciliation plan from the get-go. But Thune knows Senate Democrats will balk at the House’s stopgap spending bill. So he may use the reconciliation package to bypass Democrats and fund the government this fall.

Remember that reconciliation is NOT subject to a filibuster. Thus, 60 votes are unnecessary.

TRUMP INTERVENES AS HOUSE GOP REVOLT PUTS SAVE AMERICA ACT AT CENTER OF SPENDING SHOWDOWN

However, this is something of a negotiating tactic by Thune. He knows Democrats don’t want Republicans to pass their own spending plan via budget reconciliation. He also believes it’s a bad precedent to resort to reconciliation to pass appropriations bills to keep the government open. So, he will hold the ball for now.

This means that money to plus-up depleted programs and pay for the war in Iran is stalled for months. Maybe until at least December. That could be a problem at the Pentagon if the conflict drifts on.

Finally, the House plans to vote on a separate bill today to ban its members from trading stocks. Congress passed – and President Obama signed into law – the STOCK Act 14 years ago. That law prohibits lawmakers and aides from using "inside information" collected on the job to play the market.

However, today’s bill goes a step further. It outright prohibits House members from trading stocks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., opposes this version of the bill. That’s because he wants a stock ban to apply across all of government. But that’s not what the House is poised to tackle today.

So this is an especially ambitious day in the House. Money for the Iran war and SAVE America Act swing in the balance.

And if you’re wanting to understand what Congress may face this fall, today’s action will give you a clue.