Lawmakers running out of time as defense bill and government funding stopgap stall

By Clare Foran, Ted Barrett and Ali Zaslav, CNN

    (CNN) -- Hill leaders are hoping the Senate will be able to imminently pass a major defense policy bill and a stopgap government funding bill to avert a shutdown at the end of the week -- but timing for final passage of the two measures is unclear as lawmakers attempt to sort out last-minute issues.

Government funding is currently set to expire at Friday on midnight and as a result, lawmakers are up against a fast-approaching deadline.

As the Senate worked on Thursday to pass the defense bill and a week-long government funding extension, Senate Republican Whip John Thune said the bills are caught up in nettlesome issues that could complicate quick passage of both. The issues could still get resolved on Thursday as talks were underway.

On the defense bill, which Thune indicated Senate leaders are trying to clear first, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska is demanding a vote on amendment that would cap lawyers' fees on lawsuits related to water contamination at the Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and Democrats are resisting allowing the vote, he said.

"That's the snag," Thune said. "Democrats are a little apoplectic about how to deal with it."

He said "that's a trial lawyer issue" for Democrats.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated to CNN that he does not know the details of the amendment, but would likely oppose it.

"We have a system in the United States where what motivates plaintiffs to go to court and seek redress for harms is that they don't have to put money up front for experts, for discovery, for the development of evidence -- and if you cap lawyers' fees then you prevent people from getting access to justice," he said.

There are two other amendments that are expected to get voted on as part of the defense bill. One is West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's measure dealing with easing the permit process for energy projects. Thune said he did not expect that to get the 60 votes needed to pass because Republicans don't think it's strong enough.

The second is a measure offered by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, and other conservatives that would reinstate members of the military who were discharged for refusing to get Covid-19 vaccines. The underlying defense bill does rescind the vaccine mandate for the military but does not reinstates those service members.

On the one-week government funding bill, Thune said multiple Republicans want amendment votes if they are going to grant an expedited floor process to clear it immediately. He declined to specify who wanted votes and what the amendments would do.

To speed up the process and schedule a quick vote, all 100 senators need to consent to a time agreement, a dynamic that can create a challenging negotiation for leadership to lock in votes in short order.

"At this point, we've got some issues with it," Thune said about the government funding bill. "People want to get some amendment votes."

Senate Majority Leader Schumer was noncommittal when asked by CNN if Democrats would allow a vote on the Sullivan amendment.

"We're negotiating and trying to get things done as quickly as possible," he said.

Staff for Schumer did not immediately respond for comment about what Thune said.

Speaking on the floor earlier Thursday, Schumer said Thursday that senators will spend the day "working on an agreement" to swiftly pass the stopgap funding bill. At the same time, he said, both sides are also working on a deal to quickly approve the annual defense bill, "hopefully today."

The House has already passed both the defense bill and the stopgap government funding extension. Both measures must now pass the Senate before they can be cleared for President Joe Biden's signature.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.