Congress Gives Itself One More Week To Pass The Omnibus Spending Bill

Update to Not Yet In Power, Republicans Threaten A Government Shutdown Ahead Of Christmas.

I’ve lost count of how many times since 1994 that the Congress has failed to pass the appropriations bills until they want to leave for Christmas Eve. (The fiscal year ended on September 30). This is ridiculous.

There’s a new wrinkle this year: there is a bipartisan effort in the Senate to get this spending bill done, but “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy is kowtowing to the bomb throwers in the GQP Sedition Caucus who want to shut down the government and take it hostage, because he needs their votes to get elected Speaker of the House – he doesn’t have 218 votes.

It does not appear likely at this time that this craven coward will ever get to 218 votes.

“We all operate as five … we come as five,” @RepRalphNorman said

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) December 14, 2022

So the massive omnibus spending bill which will be approved in the Senate next week will, once again, have to rely on the Greatest Speaker of The House in the modern era, Nancy Pelosi, and House Democrats to pass the omnibus spending bill by Christmas Eve, demonstrating once again why “Traitor” Kevin McCarthy is a weak, sniveling coward – and insurrectionist to boot – who should never be Speaker of the House.

Politico reports, Top appropriators clinch deal on government funding framework:

Top appropriators struck a deal Tuesday night on a government funding framework critical to finalizing a mammoth year-end spending package.

In a statement, retiring Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said appropriators have “reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the president.”

[A]ppropriators have largely settled on an $858 billion defense budget in recent weeks, which amounts to a 10 percent boost over current defense funding levels.

The deal followed a burst of progress in previously stalled talks, with domestic funding levels being the major hangup between both parties.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the GOP’s lead negotiator, said, “If all goes well, we should be able to finish an omnibus appropriations package by December 23rd.” House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said appropriators “will work around the clock” to finish the sprawling government spending package in the coming days.

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that the so-called omnibus must pass by Dec. 22. Otherwise, Republicans will back a short-term funding patch into early next year.

“We intend not to be here between Christmas and New Years,” the Senate minority leader told reporters on Tuesday.

“We don’t work all year; how dare you ask us to work through the holidays!” The “Grim Reaper of Democracy” appears ready to kowtow to the the Sedition Caucus in the House to take the country hostage. He did lead the Tea Party “shutdown caucus” from 2011-2016 after all.

With a bipartisan framework in hand and legislative text largely written, lawmakers could be on track to clear the so-called omnibus just before the holidays. But timing is extremely tight and a number of pitfalls could complicate passage in both chambers, including a host of unrelated policy provisions that members will push to include before the start of the next Congress in January.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Tuesday that a revamp of the outdated Electoral Count Act and emergency money for Ukraine will be included in the year-end bill. Other provisions, including tax provisions like an extension of the enhanced Child Tax Credit, are much less certain [“Maserati” Manchin is still a  hard “no.” “Let the poors fend for themselves, the lazy bums will just spend their tax refund on drugs.”]

Senators have been working on a bipartisan deal to adjust the Electoral Count Act since Trump tested its limits on Jan. 6, 2021. Legislation passed the Senate Rules Committee in September with broad support, including from McConnell. Democrats and Republicans have also largely agreed for months that Ukraine will need more assistance before the end of the year. [The GQP’s pro-Putin Caucus begs to differ.]

The bipartisan, bicameral deal on a $1.7 trillion funding outline allows lawmakers to start haggling over the details and policy provisions that will be included in the broader government spending package.

The Hill reports, The Hill’s Morning Report — Government shutdown averted as Senate passes spending bill:

Senators on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill that moves Friday’s government shutdown deadline to next week, giving negotiators more time to patch together a larger funding deal for fiscal 2023. The Senate voted 71-19 to pass the continuing resolution (CR), sending the legislation to President Biden for approval. The legislation passed the House Wednesday on a vote of 224-201.

The bill freezes funding levels through Dec. 23, and appropriators on both sides of the aisle have been working to pass an omnibus spending package by the end of the month, with sights set on final passage by Christmas Eve. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) acknowledged Thursday that there’s still “a lot of work to do” on a broader spending deal.

“No drama, no gridlock, no government shutdown this week,” he said on the chamber floor as voting began.

Tune in next week,”same bat time, same bat channel.”

A group of Republicans joined Democrats in passing the spending bill on Thursday. However, others in the GOP have pushed against a one-week CR in favor of a stopgap bill that would kick the funding deadline into the new year to give their party more influence on how the government should be funded for fiscal 2023, which began in October. Senate Appropriations Committee member Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who voted against the CR, told The Hill ahead of the vote that he would have only backed the measure if it moved the deadline into next year (The Hill and The Washington Post) [so the Sedition Party can hold the country hostage to their extortion demands.]

“I think most Republicans are gonna listen to the Republicans that just gave us the House back, and why would you do that when we’re gonna have more input into it, even though it might be a process, a little bit of turmoil, why would you do that now?” Braun said.

Roll Call: House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is confident the sprawling spending bill can pass by Christmas, but acknowledges “crazy things” can happen.

The Senate on Thursday also passed the annual defense authorization bill, sending the $858 billion measure to President Biden’s desk for signature just before the year-end deadline. The measure, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, 83-11.

The vote caps weeks of wrangling over floor timing and policy changes, such as language demanded by conservative Republicans to end the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which has been in place since August 2021. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) praised the passage of the bill after months of negotiation, calling it “the most significant vote of the year” (The Hill and The Washington Post).

“I’ve said it before and I’m not the only one saying it — the world is a more dangerous place than I’ve ever seen before in my lifetime,” he said.

Progressive lawmakers, meanwhile, are raising the alarm over the final figure of the soon-to-be signed NDAA, writes The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell. They say the behemoth piece of legislation they say comes at the expense of domestic priorities. The bill, which lays out how the Defense Department will allocate its budget in fiscal 2023, came in at $85 billion higher than what the Biden administration first requested earlier this year following congressional negotiating. But liberals in both the House and Senate have labeled the final figure as a money grab that does more for padding the pockets of defense contractors than it does for actual military readiness.

While the omnibus spending package is getting closer to passage, the expected exclusion of marijuana banking reform has spawned a battle within the GOP, writes The Hill’s Al Weaver. The push to legalize marijuana is broadly popular, putting Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in a tricky position as he prepares to chair the Senate GOP campaign arm in 2024 and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) takes a hatchet to one of his main projects in the upper chamber. Proponents were hopeful the item would be included in either the NDAA or the omnibus, but are likely to be left empty handed heading into 2023. 

“Guys like me have been trying to make the case to my conference that this is not some kind of crazy bill,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), who, along with Daines and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), have led the GOP’s SAFE Banking effort. “It’s a bill about safety and small businesses.”

The Hill: Senate rejects Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) energy permitting amendment to the defense bill. [Stick a fork in him, he’s done!]

Efforts are ramping up to support House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy(R-Calif.) for Speaker, as a handful of hard-line conservatives threaten to keep him from winning the gavel in a Jan. 3 House floor vote. Some centrist members in the Republican Governance Group have taken to wearing buttons that read “O.K.” — forecasting they will vote for “Only Kevin” (The Hill).

“We definitely are doubling down on our support for Kevin McCarthy and we’re making it very clear that we’re going to support him through and through no matter how many ballots it takes,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told The Hill.

Oooh, internecine civil war in the GQP for Christmas, Thanks Santa! The vote for House Speaker on January 3, 2023 could be high drama. Stock up on those cans of flavored popcorn you see in all the stores this time of year.

McCarthy’s ongoing Speaker battle has paralyzed the House, Politico reports.  The GOP leader confirmed he’s postponing key committee contests, delaying the conference’s ability to prepare bills, call hearings or even pay staff.

Bringing the crazy and chaos! This is what you get when you vote for Republicans. When will Americans ever learn their lesson?