The Senate faces a September 30 deadline to pass the spending agreement, leaving lawmakers a little more than a week to negotiate a deal.
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“While this isn’t a flawless bill, it will enable the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies to continue working toward a vaccine, and to develop new treatments and diagnostics for those who have been infected”, Blunt said in a statement. The stop-gap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, would fund the government at current levels through December 9 and includes money to fight against the Zika virus as well as aid to victims of floods in Maryland, West Virginia and Louisiana.
But Democrats reject the claim that the proposed resolution is a clean bill, lambasting the must-pass, stop-gap spending legislation for excluding provisions to provide funding for the Flint water crisis and language to restore the Export-Import Bank’s full power. So that’s what I’ve just offered, ” said McConnell.
McConnell was expected to announce his latest offer to Democrats on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, but Democratic leaders dismissed it before the details were announced publicly. Now, Democrats are vowing to filibuster the must-do measure in a showdown vote on Tuesday. These are issues Democrats emphasized would need to be included for them to support the measure.
“How’s Mitch going to resolve it if he wants to get it off the floor?” asked Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said when asked how the impasse will be resolved. She told reporters as she walked off that she wouldn’t vote for the bill at this point.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Sen.
He said he was urging all of his colleagues to support the deal. The GOP version filed Thursday only addresses the flooding issue, to the tune of $500 million.
“The bottom line is that it is essential that we keep the government open and provide these vital funds”, said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky.
“We have been hearing from some of our Republican colleagues of the urgency in their states, and I certainly understand their urgency, and I certainly hope they understand the urgency is just as great in Flint”, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has led the push for federal help for Flint.
Mr. McConnell said lawmakers will have four days to review the bill before a vote is scheduled.
Despite criticism from Democrats, McConnell’s CR did carry some good news for the minority, aides said.
While far less than the $1.9 billion Obama wanted, the $1.1 billion for Zika also reflects the plan the Senate previously endorsed.
Democrats agreed to offset costs with $400 million in cuts from unused funds meant to prevent the spread of Ebola, and to set up Obamacare exchanges in USA territories. In Puerto Rico, the Department of Health would decide who could be reimbursed for care.
Reid sharply criticized the provisions affecting the SEC rule, but language that Sen. Ted Cruz and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “Negotiations will continue over the weekend, so they’re continuing”. If cloture is invoked on the substitute in the Senate, lawmakers still can demand 30 hours of post-cloture debate or delay action on H.R. 5325 itself.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, said Senate Republicans have not abandoned Flint funding, and are planning a water resources bill vote that could include it.
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At his weekly press conference Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the southern flooding and Flint water crisis “two separate issues” that would be dealt with in different legislative vehicles.
