President Barrack Obama is expected to sign a short-term spending measure to keep the government funded for an additional five days while Congress continues negotiations on the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.
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The measure was approved by voice vote Friday hours ahead of a midnight deadline.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has promised to give lawmakers three days to read the text of any final agreement, putting pressure on negotiators to reach a deal soon so the bill can be passed by both chambers before the end of day Wednesday deadline.
“Republicans’ insistence on including risky, harmful policies in the spending bill has halted progress”, Rep. Nita Lowey of NY, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel, said Friday.
Democrats take issue with efforts by Republicans to block new environmental rules that would reduce power plant emissions, weaken financial industry regulations and make it more hard for the Obama administration to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the US over the next year, according to USA Today. The Senate agreed by voice vote and without debate Thursday to extend that deadline through Wednesday Dec. 16 to allow more time for talks.
“We’re not going to get everything we want in negotiations”.
Ryan assured lawmakers from Northeastern states that legislation extending health benefits and a compensation fund for 9/11 first responders would be made part of the spending bill.
Congressional leaders had hoped to pass a $1.15 trillion bill funding the full fiscal year 2016 by Friday, but have been bogged down for weeks over which policy measures, known as “riders”, will be included in the bill.
One major sticking point is a provision supported by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) that would eliminate the current limit on how much national Republican and Democratic parties can spend in coordination with individual candidates. “Don’t expect us to vote for a bill that has a ban in it. Take the ban out”.
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Democrats are opposed to those riders and are demanding some of their own, such as lifting a ban on federal research on gun violence.
