The House approved the bill by voice vote early on Friday afternoon, sending it to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
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House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said Friday that negotiations are moving slowly but that hopes are still alive of having a bill worked up by December 14.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are working toward passing a year-long spending bill.
“This is one where we were served up a particular deck of cards, if you will, and we’ve got to play it in order to keep from getting a shutdown”.
The omnibus spending bill and the tax package were drawn up separately, but numerous issues are now colliding in the late-stage negotiations, and there has been some talk of potentially combining the two pieces of legislation. House Speaker Paul Ryan indicated the House might need even more time to make sure the “negotiations are done well and done right”, the Associated Press reported. “But I believe that we will successfully complete these negotiations”.
House Republican leaders said there would be no further roll-call votes until Tuesday, suggesting that an agreement was still a bit out of reach. Republicans are planning to add conservative policies, such as lifting crude oil export ban, renewing expiring tax breaks, and halting the Syrian refugee program, into the spending bill, which the Democrats are opposing to.
“I’m not going to put a deadline on it”, he said.
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.
Uncertainty remained as to whether lawmakers would pull off a major tax bill with permanent extensions benefiting both sides, or simply opt for a two-year extension of existing tax breaks.
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“Everything is tenuous right now”. Democrats oppose those GOP efforts and are pushing to lift the ban on gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she would not support a combined tax extender-omnibus deal.
