September 28, 2016 | No Comments
A bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown easily cleared its first major hurdle on Wednesday, as Congress races to fund federal agencies until mid-December and leave town to focus on their re-elections as soon as Wednesday evening.
Now that the Senate has voted to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill allowing families of Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, and the House is expected to follow suit quickly, all that remains is clearing a short-term stop-gap budget measure — called a continuing resolution, or CR.
The Senate voted, 72-26, to pass the measure; the bill now heads to the House, where it is expected to pass comfortably.
Once that bill clears both chambers, Congress will sprint for the exits to get back to campaigning, at least until a lame-duck session in mid-November.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) huddled twice Tuesday to iron out a dispute over what to do about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Democrats had demanded money to address the lead contamination issue be added to the CR, but Republicans say Flint should be dealt with in another bill.
The two worked out an agreement Tuesday evening that involves an amendment to authorize $170 million in water legislation that is slated to pass the House on Wednesday. That move appeared to satisfy Democrats seeking assurances that the beleaguered Michigan city would receive federal aid.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Senate Democrats were prepared to accept the bipartisan House deal on Flint.
“I am convinced that there is going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” Reid said. “They’ve been waiting for help, they deserve help. I am very happy it is going to come.”
Reid said today would be “a good day for the Senate,” and that though there were a couple other outstanding issues on the CR, he expected them to be resolved.
Pelosi issued a statement on the Flint amendment Wednesday afternoon saying the vote would “begin to narrow the gap between the House and Senate.”
“I appreciate the commitment of the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid to ensure that the Senate language will prevail in the House-Senate conference,” Pelosi said.
Republican leaders likewise sounded confident they could avert a government shutdown.
“You don’t see a lot of talk about a government shutdown right now,” Ryan said at the Economic Club of Washington Wednesday morning. “Why? Because we’re not going to have one…We’re basically having a low-drama moment here because we’ve taken the sting out of the room.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that senators should be prepared for votes later Wednesday on the short-term funding measure.
“The House made good progress last night on a way forward to help the people of Flint in the Water Resources Development Act … which, as we said, is the proper vehicle,” McConnell said Wednesday. “We’re hopeful that we will soon reach an agreement with our Democratic colleagues to move forward on the clean CR-Zika package today.”
Flint’s congressman Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) praised the agreement as “a step forward to ensuring that Flint families get the resources they need to recover from this crisis.”
The rapid-fire developments on Wednesday seem to resolve longstanding skepticism from Senate Democrats about whether the Republican-led House would actually advance Flint aid.
“This should be pretty easy. Why can’t they just say they’ll do it?” Reid had said earlier in the day, referring to Republicans. “This is not deficit spending. … It’s Michigan money that’s going to be used in a different way. The money is already there.”
Lawmakers also appear poised to include money in the CR to help clean up damage done by deadly floods in Louisiana, a key priority for the GOP. Democrats initially balked at adding the money to the CR if it didn’t also cover Flint.
The current spending measure on the Senate floor still contains aid for Louisiana and other flood-ravaged states, and a senior Senate aide said it would remain under the deal. Earlier, senior Republicans had noted that procedurally, there would have to be a roll call to strip out the flood aid — a vote that could be politically problematic. And some Democrats fear it would look bad to block a bill that would help people caught up in a natural disaster.
But others suggested the inclusion of Louisiana funds could be problematic. “Yesterday it was the CR was set in stone and we were going to do Flint in WRDA and Louisiana would find a vehicle. Now it looks like, if the rumors are true, Louisiana is back in the front seat,” Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said after a House Democratic leadership meeting Wednesday morning. “That’s not going to raise the confidence levels for Democrats in the House.”
Republicans are pressuring them to drop their concerns.
“I don’t know why people would object to [keeping flood aid], but I have read that for example, Sen. [Debbie] Stabenow [D-Mich.] had expressed some concerns,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Wednesday morning. “Her concerns about Flint are being addressed and I hope she doesn’t get in the way of concerns that other people have who’ve experienced some flooding.”
The deal between Pelosi and Ryan came after Reid and other Senate Democrats laid down a hard line on Flint spending over the last several days. Democrats had already scored several wins in the CR, including Zika funding that also allows Planned Parenthood to receive money combatting the mosquito-borne virus.
But the retiring Nevada Democrat said if Republicans put in money for Louisiana, they’d need money for Flint. Meanwhile, Republicans had been privately frustrated with Democrats, believing that they kept moving the goalposts in what would be an acceptable deal over government funding.
McConnell, Pelosi and Ryan started working on a deal shortly after McConnell’s previous proposal, which did not include Flint funding, failed to muster enough votes to advance Tuesday.
Time is running out. Leaders have just two more days to pass their deal. Government funding runs out Sept. 30. Plus, lawmakers want to return to their districts to campaign for their seats.
Conservatives were already squawking about the agreement. Heritage Action’s Dan Holler blasted the deal saying “House Republicans accept being jammed and essentially sit on the side lines” and Hill Republicans “negotiate behind closed doors with Democrats, essentially giving them what they want..