How the 2014 spending resolution will move in the House

The base resolution will be the same one Republicans introduced earlier this month, H.J.Res. 59. In its current form, that resolution funds the government through December 15, and does not contain any provision to defund ObamaCare.

{mosads}According to House aides, the Rules Committee is expected to approve a rule for the bill that would “self-execute” the inclusion of ObamaCare language.

Specifically, the rule will state that once the rule is approved on the House floor, the text of H.R. 2682 from Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), which would fully defund ObamaCare in 2014, will be considered as part of the short-term spending bill.

The rule will also “self-execute” the inclusion of language from H.R. 807, a bill from Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) that the House passed earlier this year. That bill would require the Treasury Department to prioritize the payment of interest on the national debt in the event of a shutdown.

The inclusion of the Graves and McClintock language will be done through an amendment offered by Steve Scalise (R-La.) today in the committee.

Assuming the Rules Committee can pass the rule today, the House could consider it as early as Thursday. Passage of the rule will allow the House to debate and pass the underlying resolution, sending it to the Senate.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated Wednesday that the House GOP plan is to force the Senate to consider the House resolution and pass an alternative, if it can.

If the Senate can pass an alternative, it would likely do so next week, and that could force the House to return to either pass the Senate version or otherwise reconcile the two competing resolutions.