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Senators avert government shutdown, pass temporary spending measure Senate poised to vote on spending bill Saturday night
(about 2 hours later)
The Senate was poised to approve a $1.1 trillion spending bill Saturday night after a rare weekend session forced by a conservative rebellion against President Obama's immigration policy. The Senate was poised Saturday night to give final approval to a sweeping $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund most of the federal government through the next fiscal year, turning back a conservative rebellion against President Obama’s immigration policy.
Senators had earlier approved a backstop measure to extend current government funding until Wednesday, averting a potential government shutdown that would have started at midnight. A small group of conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), had sought to slow debate on the bill by raising concerns with Obama’s immigration policy, forcing a marathon weekend session. The move infuriated their colleagues, particularly Republicans who complained that forcing senators to stay in session produced nothing positive for the GOP and only helped Democrats in their bid to approve a final batch of Obama’s nominees for government posts.
The spending measure is expected to be approved with bipartisan support whenever a vote is held and the intransigence of a small group of conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), infuriated their colleagues, particularly Republicans who complained that forcing senators to stay in session produced nothing positive for the GOP and only helped Democrats in their bid to approve a final batch of Obama's nominees for government posts. For several hours Saturday, senators held procedural votes to begin the process of confirming dozens of Obama’s nominees for federal judgeships and top positions at the State Department and other agencies. They also approved a backstop bill to keep the federal government open through Wednesday night, if needed.
“I think everybody’s frustrated,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who is retiring after six terms. The move forced members of both parties to abruptly cancel holiday and retirement festivities back home. Some senators slogged through the Capitol hallways with young children in tow. Several skipped the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore. Staffers forced to work entertained out-of-town guests by giving them rare weekend access to the Capitol.
With a vote on the spending bill still hours away, senators spent Saturday afternoon holding dozens of procedural votes to begin the process of confirming dozens of President Obama’s nominations for federal judgeships, plus Tony Blinken to be a deputy secretary of state, Vivek Murthy to be the next U.S. surgeon general, Sarah Saldana to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Carolyn Colvin to be Commissioner of Social Security. Prolonged debate on the spending bill came after Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) late Friday night derailed a carefully crafted plan between party leaders to allow senators to go home for the weekend and return Monday to approve the spending agreement. The pair had sought to force a vote on an amendment that would block federal agencies from implementing the immigration policy changes ordered by Obama last month.
The rare stretch of confirmation votes — especially on a weekend — came as Democrats and Republicans continued tussling over Obama’s judicial nominees, whose chances at confirmation decrease dramatically next month when Republicans take control of the Senate. But Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) blocked their request and angrily clashed with them on the Senate floor, ensuring that debate on the spending bill would spill into Saturday.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is set to succeed Reid as the majority leader in the next Congress, suggested Friday night that his side was willing to speed the entire process along, including passage of a terrorism insurance bill and extending a collection of expired tax breaks. Democrats said the setback was an especially embarrassing blow to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is slated to lead the chamber next year and has sought to complete unfinished business before GOP control begins. Confident that he had a deal with Reid, McConnell left the Capitol before 9:30 p.m. Friday, telling reporters as he stepped into an elevator: “See you Monday.”
But Republicans were not willing to let the nominees easily pass, so Reid opted to use the time before votes on the spending bill on Saturday to clear procedural hurdles and confirm the nominees. The deal to allow senators a weekend reprieve blew up amid Cruz and Lee’s objections, and in so doing it compelled the Senate to be in session Saturday. Rather than passing the day by opening the floor to speeches, Reid decided to use the time to begin consideration of up to 20 of Obama’s nominees, almost half of whom Republicans had been blocking.
While mostly liberal resistance had kept the bill’s fate in doubt in the House, conservative opposition in the Senate is now the focal point. On the right, the resistance was led by those who wanted to use the bill to confront Obama on his executive actions on immigration. “We shouldn’t waste time,” he said.
“I think it is critical for the Senate to have an opportunity to have a clear up or down vote on funding President Obama’s illegal executive amnesty. I am using every tool available to help bring about that vote,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). Republicans later consented to allowing up-or-down votes on 24 nominees, including Antony Blinken to serve as a deputy secretary of state and Vivek Murthy to serve as the next surgeon general.
After giving a speech to a near empty chamber on Friday, Cruz and several conservative allies blocked Reid’s effort to give the Senate the weekend off and return Monday, producing an angry exchange with the majority leader. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a Cruz confidant, took to the Senate floor to try to slow Reid’s plans and force a vote on an immigration amendment that he, Cruz and others are pushing. If the Senate had voted Monday under the original agreement, Reid would have had to wait until Monday evening to start processing nominees, and Democrats feared that as the holidays drew closer, more of theirranks would have left town before confirming all the nominees. But with Cruz and Lee’s actions, Democrats were able to accelerate the confirmation process and made it far more likely they could approve every contentious nominee that GOP senators had been blocking.
A near-defeat of the spending measure in the House sharpened focus in the Senate on the odd-bedfellows political coalition that almost torpedoed the bill. “What Cruz did aided and abetted us getting nominations,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
Liberals’ anger has centered on a provision that would loosen a key regulation on big banks. The populist anti-Wall Street faction was led by freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). When proceedings resumed Saturday, Cruz and Lee tried again to secure time to hold a vote on their amendment. But once again, Reid and the Democrats said no.
“Enough is enough,” she said on the Senate floor Friday. “Washington already works really well for the billionaires and big corporations.” “We are stuck in Washington as long as Harry Reid insists that the Senate stay here,” Cruz angrily told reporters after he was rebuffed. He called the Senate leader’s decision “unfortunate” and “obstructionist.”
In a random twist, the measure’s two most outspoken opponents met on the Senate floor late Friday. Cruz blasted the bill in a speech as Warren presided over the chamber in her role as the designated Senate president, a duty reserved for the most junior senators. But several Republicans disagreed.
But it was Cruz and Lee’s fight that seized the attention Friday, overshadowing Warren’s protests. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called her colleagues’ tactics “unfortunate” and “counterproductive.”
While opponents of the bill were clinging to slim hopes that they could derail the legislation, they stopped short of pledging to block it altogether. “This reminds me very much of the shutdown last year, where the strategy made absolutely no sense,” she said, adding that until Saturday, liberals were being faulted for holding up the spending bill. “Now, I guess the blame will be shared,” she said.
Whenever the spending bill passes, it will fund most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year next September. The one exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which would be funded by the spending bill only through late winter amid the fight over Obama’s decision to halt the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants. The department oversees government operations involving immigration, including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Democrats whom he spoke with on the Senate floor were pleased with the ultimate outcome, despite the weekend session. “The White House is going to end up with far more nominations confirmed than they ever would have,” he said.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), another critic of the immigration action, conceded Friday that strong GOP support for the spending bill in the House on Thursday night makes it less likely for his perspective to prevail. “I adhere to the view that Congress should not fund a program that we think is unworthy and unlawful, but that’s been decided by the House,” he said. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) said that he was “pleased” that Democrats would be able to confirm several more nominees. “It doesn’t look good, and it’s inconvenient to be here voting around the clock. But at least we get our work done,” he said.
Warren sparked a Democratic revolt in the House this week by speaking out against the legislation. She teamed up with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on Friday to try to fight the banking provision. The two introduced an amendment to remove the language from the bill that loosens the restrictions on banks when it comes to risky derivative transactions. The afternoon vote-a-thon meant that senators had the rare opportunity to be in one another’s presence over several hours on the Senate floor. Republicans snacked on Chick-fil-A sandwiches provided for them in the GOP cloakroom, while several Democratic senators were spotted in line at a basement sandwich shop where they rarely, if ever, order food.
Even as the Senate focused on a spending bill vote, it still had other business to complete, including votes on judicial nominations, a terrorism insurance bill and extending a collection of tax breaks. Reid spent most of the day at his lectern, calling for votes, batting away GOP attempts to derail the votes and conferring with aides and other senators. He had brief words with Cruz as the Texan tried to secure time for his amendment but held what appeared to be a jovial conversation with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of his leading GOP critics.
Speaking on the Senate floor after Warren on Friday evening, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) warned opponents of the bill against blowing it up. Senate leaders have often used the threat of weekend sessions to speed along debate but have rarely called colleagues in for Saturday or Sunday votes. Reid’s tenure has been marked by sporadic weekend sessions, from the December 2009 health-care fight to the December 2012 “fiscal cliff” showdown.
Graham pledged to vote for the bill, even as he acknowledged “knowing it’s not perfect.” Even after completing work on the spending bill, Reid and McConnell still need to determine how to proceed on legislation authorizing a package of tax breaks and whether to use a House-passed bill to reauthorize a federally backed terrorism insurance program, or try forcing the House to reconvene and pass a Senate-approved proposal that House conservatives oppose.
One lawmaker who appeared to be tiring of all the extended talks was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Failure to quickly resolve differences means that senators could be in session until at least Wednesday.
“It’s ridiculous,” he told reporters outside the Senate chamber. “A lame-duck session after the American people have spoken.” Paul Kane contributed to this report.
Paul Kane and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.