Politics

Short-Term Spending Bill Likely To Prevent Looming Government Shutdown

Reuters

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Juliegrace Brufke Capitol Hill Reporter
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With just three legislative days before the government runs out of funds, lawmakers are expected to roll out a short-term spending measure to dodge the looming shutdown.

“A very short term CR is likely, although no decisions have been made as to its duration,” a GOP Senate aide tells The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Snags over policy riders tacked on to the must-pass legislation stalled progress on rolling out a long-term bill.

Republicans called for language placing restrictions on President Barack Obama’s Syrian refugee plan — which is opposed by the vast majority of Americans — defunding Planned Parenthood and unraveling key components of the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats pushed back against the addition of any policy riders, calling them “partisan poison pills,” and the White House threatened to veto the legislation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday during a Republican leadership press conference he would rather get the bill “done right than done fast” than adhere to the “arbitrary Dec. 11 deadline,” instead calling for a short-term continuing resolution to allow lawmakers to continue negotiations.

But White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday the president will veto any CR lasting more than a day or two.

“Congress has had ample time to negotiate, and the only thing that’s blocking negotiations right now is the insistence on the part of Republicans to use the budgetary process to advance their stalled ideological agenda,” he said during a press briefing.

Despite the challenges the omnibus faces, lawmakers say, if not by Friday, Congress will strike a deal on the measure sometime soon.

“It may not be Friday, but it will be sometime,” 2016 presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul told TheDCNF Tuesday. “That is the one sort of guarantee around here, is they always get together to spend more money, but no one ever does the opposite to say, ‘you know what, we are ruining the country so we should spend what comes in.'”

Congress has to roll out a plan, whether it be short term or long term, by the end of the week to avert shutting down the government.

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