HOUSE RULES CMTE MEETS ON FY2018 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL, Jan 29, 2018, DC, 5:00 pm ET

The House Rules Committee will meet on January 29, 2018 at 5:00 pm ET in H-313 Capitol to formulate a rule to provide for consideration of a new version of a stand-alone FY2018 appropriations bill for DOD.

The House Appropriations Committee announced on January 25 that it was introducing the bill, H.R. 4877, and said it is very similar to a bill that passed the House twice last year — as H.R. 3217 on July 27, and as part of the Make America Secure Again bill (H.R. 3354) that bundled four national security related bills together.  Neither of those was taken up by the Senate.

The House will take up the new bill, H.R. 4877, as an amendment to an existing, unrelated bill (H..R. 695, the Child Protection Improvements Act).  Congress often used an unrelated bill that has already been passed by one or both chambers as a legislative vehicle for new legislation in order to speed up the process.

The Rules Committee webcasts its meetings on its website.  The text of H.R. 4877 is posted on the committee’s website (see the heading for H.R. 695).