Third GOP Megabill Could Slip Until After Elections, Moore Says

House Republicans will likely forfeit their chance to pass another partisan fiscal package ahead of the midterm elections if they don’t wrap up their work before the August recess, a member of that chamber’s leadership team said Friday.

“If it doesn’t happen by the end of July, I don’t think it happens before the election,” House Republican Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore (R-Utah) said at an exclusive roundtable with Bloomberg Government reporters and editors. Republicans have been weighing a third party-line bill to pass another round of priorities before the midterms, but debates over what to include and a crowded agenda have stymied progress.

“This moves into a post-election opportunity, and I think there will be different considerations at play there. But I do not think it’s done if it’s not in July,” Moore said.

A two-month sprint to enact Republican priorities using budget reconciliation for the third time in President Donald Trump’s term would give lawmakers a chance to boost Medicaid anti-fraud enforcement in a bid to show voters they are addressing looming insolvency in entitlement programs.

“We can all hang our hat on the fraud piece,” Moore said. “The general public are with us. Let’s use that as a key catalyst to get some of that 3.0 done.”

Leadership has been meeting with key parts of the Republican conference in hopes of zeroing in on a consensus package as they simultaneously race to defend their narrow majority.

But actual legislating could get squeezed by the calendar. The House is expecting to clear a second reconciliation bill late next week to spend $72 billion on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and other national security agencies to address a lapse in annual funding.

June and July offer a window to make progress before the August recess, while September’s focus on appropriations ahead of the end of the fiscal year crowds the calendar before lawmakers leave to campaign in October.

If another party-line package slips to the lame-duck session, lawmakers would miss the opportunity to sell their accomplishment before voters go to the polls.

But members who are retiring or lose bids to return to Congress may be more amenable to negotiation then, Moore said.

“The calculus changes when you’re maybe on your last term,” Moore said. “You might’ve been able to live to fight another day to get something done” after a re-election.