House GOP pulls second funding bill in a week

House Republicans on Thursday pulled a vote on a funding bill amid divisions on abortion-related provisions and spending for the second time this week.

GOP leadership hoped to pass the conference’s partisan plan laying out fiscal 2024 funding for the White House, the Treasury Department and other offices this week. But a planned vote was pulled at the last minute on Thursday as the conference struggled to unify behind the measure.

Some moderate Republicans came out in opposition against language seeking to prohibit Washington, DC, from carrying out a law that aims to protect people from employer discrimination based on their reproductive health decisions.

“I think that we need to be much more respectful of the difficult decision that women have to make,” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said of the thorny policy rider on Wednesday. “I think we need to respect the city’s determination, and I think it’s a provision that is unnecessary in the bill.”

The bill has also faced opposition from the right flank amid scrutiny around the FBI as some conservatives have accused the agency of political weaponization.

An amendment pushed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) earlier this week sought to bar funding from being used “for the acquisition of property” for a new FBI headquarters.

“I don’t believe that the FBI deserves a massive new headquarters or Washington field office,” he said, while accusing the agency of working to “censor factual information harmful to their preferred political candidates.”