Republicans force Mattis issue in must-pass spending bill

Republicans are betting that Senate Democrats won't shut the government down over a GOP effort to speed the confirmation of retired Gen. James Mattis as Donald Trump's defense secretary.

GOP leaders slipped in a provision into a must-pass government funding bill Tuesday that would streamline confirmation of Mattis next year by fast-tracking legislation to grant him a waiver to serve in the Cabinet. Mattis needs a special exception passed by Congress to allow him to skirt a requirement that ex-military officials are out of service for seven years before they can become secretary of defense; Mattis left the military in 2013.


In doing so, Republicans are ignoring Democrats' pointed opposition. In a series of interviews they pushed back against GOP plans to fast-track Mattis.

“We believe that should not be short-shrifted through” the spending bill, said incoming Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, adding that changing the chamber’s rules through a spending measure has “never been done before.”

The procedure for Mattis' waiver in the spending bill would limit debate in the Senate over the matter to 10 hours and require 60 votes for passage. The waiver legislation itself can be introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) or Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) within the first 30 days of the new Congress. That bill would be referred to McCain's committee, and if it was not acted on within five days would go directly to the Senate floor.

The goal, Republicans said, is to prepare the Senate to confirm Mattis as soon as Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

“The quicker we get the issue resolved, the quicker the guy can get confirmed and the quicker the guy can go to work,” McCain in a Monday interview.

Schumer, like other Democrats, would not commit to blocking a spending bill over the Mattis issue. The GOP will need at least six Democratic votes to pass the budget stopgap.

Democrats say they don’t necessarily oppose Mattis or even granting him a waiver but rather object to the philosophical idea of speeding up a nomination to be considered by future Congresses.

“I find it very troubling that the members of this Congress would put language into what next year’s Congress should be held accountable for,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who will be the No. 3 party leader next year. “It would be bad precedent. … Mattis will most likely go through” anyway.

And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called it "troubling that Republicans are working so hard to shield President-elect Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense from the scrutiny and debate of Congress and the American people.”

But Republicans are worried that Democrats will try to slow the GOP’s momentum next year, potentially dragging out consideration of the legislative waiver in January and disrupt other efforts to repeal Obamacare and overhaul the tax code. Without expedited language now, securing a waiver could take as long as a week, Republicans said.

Democrats will be hard-pressed to vote down a spending bill with the government scheduled to shut down after Friday. And the language included in the bill is watered down from previous proposals floated by the GOP that would have included the waiver itself in the funding bill or set a voting threshold for a waiver at a simple majority rather than 60 votes.

A Democratic aide said senators may turn the waiver vote next year into a referendum on other generals in the Trump administration, namely retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser. Flynn is under heavy criticism from Democrats for spreading false reports.

Introducing Mattis at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday, Trump went directly at the issue at hand.

"You’re going to get that waiver," Trump said. "If you don’t get that waiver, there are going to be a lot of angry people."

Elana Schor contributed.



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