Senate Dems block spending bill vote
Deadline looms for government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats late Thursday blocked a quick vote on a shortterm spending bill introduced late Wednesday to keep the government open, roiling Washington with brinkmanship less than 30 hours before a midnight Friday deadline for a shutdown and President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office.
At the same time, however, House GOP leaders backed down from the late push to act on health care that had threatened the deal to keep the government open for a week. Despite pressure from the White House, House Republicans determined Thursday night that they don’t have the votes to pass a rewrite of the Affordable Care Act and will not seek to put their proposal on the floor Friday.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed for an agreement on the short-term legislation that will carry through until May 5, giving lawmakers more time to complete negotiations on a $1 trillion government-wide spending bill for the remainder of the 2017 budget year.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer insisted that any vote only occur when Republicans abandon efforts to add provisions on abortion, financial regulations and the
environment to the legislation.
“Our position has been clear and it’s nothing new. No poison-pill riders,” Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. Schumer has indicated that he will drop his objections once he is assured a long-term budget agreement is in place, according to Senate Democratic aides.
Senators in both parties told reporters they were instructed not to leave Washington on Thursday night.
The House is scheduled to vote on the one-week extension on Friday morning, and the Senate could still vote ahead of the deadline.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he’s “perpetually disappointed Congress does not pass individual appropriation bills,” and called the process “an abysmal failure.”
Democrats say conservative Republicans want to include language to block Affordable Care Act health insurance plans from offering abortion coverage and permit employers to deny any services, such as contraception, that they have a religious or moral objection to.
Republicans are pressing to block new rules such as a bitterly fought one that requires retirement planners to act in the best interests of their clients by revealing more about their commissions and fees. Democrats also oppose GOP efforts to undercut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
GOP lawmakers also are trying to use the spending measure to undercut environmental regulations imposed by former President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Democrats — led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California — want $500 million to help the cash-strapped government of Puerto Rico with its Medicaid bills. Republicans have offered significantly less.
Democrats also are pushing for additional money for several programs, including disaster aid.
At the same time, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Thursday that the lower chamber won’t vote on Republican legislation scuttling much of Mr. Obama’s health care law until at least next week. The decision deals a setback to the White House, which has pressured congressional Republicans to pass the bill by Saturday — Mr. Trump’s 100th day in office.
“As soon as we have the votes, we’ll vote on it,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters late Thursday after leaving a meeting of the House GOP leadership that lasted nearly two hours. He said the vote would not occur Friday or Saturday.
The failure to secure a health care deal is expected to help ensure the government stays open past midnight Friday — at least for one week. Democrats threatened to pull their support from the short-term bill if Republicans moved forward with that effort.
A revised health care bill has won the support of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, holdouts on an earlier version that collapsed last month, but GOP leaders were struggling to round up votes from moderate-leaning Republicans, including Reps. Patrick Meehan and Ryan Costello, both of Pennsylvania.
Regarding the spending bill, Mr. Trump unleashed a tweetstorm of criticism of Democrats involved in negotiations, accusing them of trying to close national parks and jeopardize the safety of U.S. troops.
Nonetheless, leaders in both parties projected certainty that a deal would ultimately be reached on the spending legislation.
The talks involving congressional Republicans and Democrats had progressed relatively smoothly after the White House earlier this week backed off a threat to withhold payments that help lower-income Americans pay their medical bills and Mr. Trump dropped a demand for money for the border wall.
After the U.S.-Mexico wall issue and the Obamacare controversy were addressed, negotiators turned to a lengthy roster of unfinished issues, many of which involved the extraneous policy “riders” on the environment and financial services regulations.
Talks continued throughout Thursday toward a deal that might not be revealed until early next week.