House Delays Vote on Government Spending Bill
House GOP leaders are delaying a vote on an omnibus spending bill, raising the prospects of a government shutdown if Congress can’t reach at least a short-term deal by midnight. The catch-all spending measure intended to fund the federal government, except for the Homeland Security Department, which would only be funded into February, for the ...
House GOP leaders are delaying a vote on an omnibus spending bill, raising the prospects of a government shutdown if Congress can’t reach at least a short-term deal by midnight.
House GOP leaders are delaying a vote on an omnibus spending bill, raising the prospects of a government shutdown if Congress can’t reach at least a short-term deal by midnight.
The catch-all spending measure intended to fund the federal government, except for the Homeland Security Department, which would only be funded into February, for the rest of fiscal 2015 is clearly in trouble. The House barely passed the rule that opened debate on what lawmakers are calling a “cromnibus” bill, a combination of a continuing resolution and omnibus spending bill, the two mechanisms Congress needs to keep the government open.
Then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) forcefully declared that she would neither vote for the bill nor ask her fellow Democrats to vote for it. She and other Democrats are livid over inclusion of a measure that would undo a key provision of the landmark financial services regulation overhaul law known as the Dodd-Frank Act regarding derivatives.
The spending bill is not the only piece of business left for lawmakers to complete before the 113th Congress can gavel closed. Each year, Congress must pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which specifies Pentagon expenditures and budget priorities. But this year’s contains unrelated measures, including one that throws more hurdles in the omnibus’s path to passage.
On Thursday the Senate voted to open debate on the NDAA. However, retiring Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) says he will force the Senate to debate the bill for the full 30 hours allowed unless it removes 60 unrelated land-use provisions and transfers, according to his spokeswoman, Elaine Joseph. That means the Senate cannot consider the catch-all spending bill before the continuing resolution funding the government expires at 11:59 tonight.
If House Republicans do manage to pass the government spending bill before midnight, Congress could also pass an even one-day continuing resolution to buy the Senate more time to clear both the NDAA and the omnibus. If they don’t, the government shuts down at midnight.
The massive spending bill contains $554.1 billion for fiscal year 2015, a bit less than the $554.3 billion the White House sought. It would also grant $3.4 billion of the $5.6 billion the president asked for to fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
The Pentagon would also receive $93.8 billion for procurement, a $1 billion increase from 2014, along with $63.7 billion for research and development, a $700 million increase from this year.
Photo Credit: Bill Clark/Getty Images
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