House Republican leaders said Tuesday that Congress will need a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open beyond Friday, as both parties complained about roadblocks as they try to stave off a pre-Christmas federal shutdown.
Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers are working on a $1.1 trillion package and they will need time to digest it once it’s written, and that means the current Friday deadline will have to be pushed back.
“We need to get it right. I don’t want us to go home until we get this done,” said Mr. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican.
The bills already are two months overdue, with the fiscal year having begun on Oct. 1. The government has been operating on a “continuing resolution,” extending last year’s spending levels in the meantime, but that authority expires Friday.
Congress cleared the way for a full-year deal when it agreed to a new budget cap in late October, but both parties now are sparring over the policy add-ons, or “riders,” attached to the $1.1 trillion spending bill.
Democrats said Republicans are pushing “poison pill” riders that place a partisan agenda above sound fiscal policy, attempting to roll back President Obama’s environmental agenda or freeze his plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S.
SEE ALSO: Paul Ryan says Congress may miss Friday funding deadline
Republicans, meanwhile, blamed Democrats for pushing Congress to the budgetary brink by protecting Mr. Obama’s regulatory overreach.
The parties also are struggling to meet halfway on a package to reauthorize certain tax breaks known as “extenders.” Though members would like to make many of the breaks permanent, House leaders filed a fall-back bill late Monday that extends them for two years.
Republican leaders have declined to reveal what deals they would have to strike to get Democrats’ buy-in on GOP priorities, such as ending the ban on U.S. oil exports or adding a provision that hamstrings a part of Obamacare that protects insurers against heavy losses.
“We’re not gonna negotiate the deal with you,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican told reporters.
For their part, the White House and its Democratic allies accused Republicans Tuesday of putting special business interests ahead of Democrats’ push to make permanent a child tax credit for families.
They also vowed to block any spending deal laden with GOP-favored riders that roll back Mr. Obama’s agenda.
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“Unless our Republican colleagues can move forward with a proposal that is bipartisan, it looks like we’re heading toward another Republican shutdown of government,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra, California Democrat.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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