Massive spending bill hits snag in Congress as deadline draws near
House prepares to unveil spending bill, but full passage before deadline is in doubt
(about 5 hours later)
Most of a massive $1.1 trillion spending agreement negotiated in recent days is ready to go, but House and Senate leaders are still squabbling over a handful of unrelated policy matters with a deadline just two days away.
Congressional leaders are expected to unveil a massive $1.1 trillion spending agreement later Tuesday and then race the clock in hopes of approving the deal before a spending deadline late Thursday night.
Lead negotiators were said to be focused on trying to tack on several unresolved issues, including reauthorization of a government-backed terrorism insurance program, before releasing the text of an omnibus bill that would keep most of the federal government open through the end of the fiscal year.
Lead negotiators were putting the final touches on the omnibus legislation after talks to include unrelated items, including the reauthorization of a government-backed terrorism insurance program, collapsed.
Once the bill is out, House Republicans leaders are vowing to pass it before a Thursday deadline so they can adjourn for the holidays and begin preparations for next year. But getting the bill through the Senate before midnight Thursday would be more difficult, so top appropriators are ready to pass a short-term extension of a few days, if needed. It’s happened before, but doing it this year would provide an embarrassing, if unsurprising, finale to one of the most fruitless congressional sessions in history.
But getting the bill through Congress before midnight Thursday may prove difficult, so House Republican leaders were preparing to pass a short-term extension of a few days in order to give the Senate, with its arcane procedural rules, more time to complete work on the bill, aides said. Passing an extension of current funding for just a few days has happened before, but doing so this year would provide an embarrassing finale to one of the most fruitless congressional sessions in history.
Top leaders spent most of Monday reviewing final details of the massive spending bill, but plans to release it before midnight were dashed amid last-minute disagreements over the renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.
“It’s a Christmas tradition,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) joked when asked about last-minute drama with the legislation. “I don’t see it getting derailed,” he added. “I think it could get slowed down, but I think it will ultimately get across the finish line.”
For months, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), a lead Democratic broker, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, led talks to reauthorize the government-backed program to protect against catastrophic terrorist attacks. The National Football League and the powerful insurance, construction and hospitality industries have been pushing for Congress to renew the program before it expires on Dec. 31. Both sides had reached agreement on continuing the program by Monday evening but couldn’t agree on whether to also include proposed changes to 2010 financial regulatory reforms as part of the deal, according to aides familiar with the impasse.
If the bill is released later Tuesday as expected, House Republicans will have to wait until Thursday morning to hold a vote as part of their rule requiring legislation to be considered for at least part of three days before a vote is held. But that would give the Senate just a few hours to earn rare unanimous consent to bypass the normal rules and quickly approve the bill.
Any delay in releasing the bill means that “ it can’t be pretty — it never is,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). Sessions is among the Republicans hoping to use the spending bill to punish President Obama for using his executive authority to change the nation’s immigration laws. But Monday night he conceded that he probably wouldn’t prevail — and said he was “torn” over whether to slow or block the spending bill in response.
In the House, top GOP leaders plan to use Wednesday to build support for the legislation, especially among conservative lawmakers who have bucked House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) in the past. Boehner has vowed to adjourn the House by Thursday and has predicted that the bill will ultimately pass with broad bipartisan support.
“You’re concerned about what the president did and want to respond — but you don’t want to be slowing things down to the point that a near-shutdown occurs,” Sessions said, adding later that failing to stop Obama’s executive orders would be “an abdication of congressional responsibility.”
Congressional leaders originally hoped to release the spending bill Monday night, but last-minute attempts to add language renewing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act delayed the release. By Tuesday afternoon, leaders had dropped plans to include language to extend the program in the spending bill, opting instead to move it as separate legislation. The National Football League and the powerful insurance, construction and hospitality industries have been pushing for Congress to renew the catastrophic insurance program before it expires on Dec. 31.
The legislation would provide full funding for 11 of the 12 appropriations bills Congress is supposed to pass each year, but it would extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, only through early next year. The shorter deadline for DHS would allow Republicans to craft a legislative response to Obama’s immigration orders next year instead of now.
Many of the spending bill’s biggest details are already set in stone thanks to spending caps agreed to by the White House and lawmakers last year.
The deal would be consistent with spending caps agreed to by the White House and lawmakers last year. Senior aides said the deal is expected to include roughly $5 billion of the $6.2 billion Obama requested to fight Ebola.
The $1.1 trillion agreement is expected to include most of the money President Obama requested to fight Ebola, but it is expected to slash funding for changes to school lunch programs that are backed by first lady Michelle Obama. Most of the federal government would be funded through the end of the fiscal year next September, but the Department of Homeland Security – with oversight over immigration – will be kept on a shorter spending timetable as Republicans craft a legislative response to the president’s recent executive actions to change immigration policy.
Several congressional Democrats said their support for the legislation was dependent on whether Republicans try tucking any policy “riders” into the bill. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s nonvoting Democratic representative, said she was waiting to see about a GOP proposal to block District leaders from implementing plans to legalize marijuana possession, which city voters approved last month.
Several congressional Democrats said their support for the legislation was dependent on whether Republicans try tucking any policy “riders” into the bill.
“It’s hard to know” what Republicans might do, she said, “because we haven’t gotten started yet. They’re trying to stop us before we leave the home plate.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s nonvoting Democratic representative, and other Democrats were warning they would vote against the bill if it puts any restrictions on the District’s plans to legalize marijuana possession, which city voters approved last month.
Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has vowed to adjourn the House by Thursday and has predicted that the spending bill will pass with bipartisan support. Leaders of the House and Senate appropriations panels worked over the weekend on the bill while GOP leaders carefully built support, paying special attention to the potential for conservative fury.
The congressional interference, however, could create a level of chaos in the District, legalizing possession and home cultivation of the plant, but prohibiting the city from spending additional resources to set up a regulatory framework to allow for legal sale and taxation of pot.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won’t say whether she’ll encourage colleagues to vote for or against the legislation until she sees the final text, aides said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday that he opposes putting any restrictions on the District’s new marijuana program, but conceded that it may be difficult to remove such language from the final bill.
Passing the spending bill is just one of several pieces of unfinished business expected to dominate the week. On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee is set to release a long-awaited report on the CIA’s interrogation tactics. Jonathan Gruber, the former Obama administration consultant who earned the ire of Republicans for his comments on voters’ perceptions of the Affordable Care Act, is slated to appear before a House panel Tuesday. Secretary of State John F. Kerry is scheduled to testify on continuing U.S. military operations against the Islamic State.
“The District of Columbia should do what they want to do,” he said.
And Democrats are expected to use their fleeting days of Senate control to confirm more of Obama’s nominees to government posts. The president’s picks for several senior State Department positions and for surgeon general are awaiting consideration, and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) hasn’t ruled out keeping the Senate open beyond this week to hold votes.
Aaron Davis contributed to this report.
As they prepare to take control of the Senate, Republicans also are expected to decide Tuesday whether to restore the old filibuster rules. Democrats took the dramatic step last year of eliminating filibusters for most presidential nominations, a move they said was needed to fix a broken system. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the change a “power grab” and vowed to restore the old rules, but he has since backed away from that statement.
Other GOP senators who once railed against changing the rules said they might now support keeping them. “I’ve kind of gradually come to the conclusion: Keep the rule the way it is. Frankly, even with the old rule, the vast majority of presidential nominees went through,” Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the longest-serving GOP senator, said last week.
