House leaders strike budget deal, punt on immigration


House leaders unveil budget bill, race to avert partial shutdown

Published December 10, 2014 FoxNews.com




NOW PLAYINGWill Pelosi play ball with Boehner on spending deal?

House leaders unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill Tuesday night that would avert a partial government shutdown while delaying a fight over President Obama's immigration actions until early 2015.

The GOP-led House Appropriations Committee released the plan, which would keep most of the government funded through September 2015, following days of backroom negotiations.

The government technically runs out of money at midnight Thursday. The narrow window raises the likelihood that lawmakers will have to pass a stopgap spending bill to buy time.

The main spending bill next will go to the chamber’s rules committee to be prepared for debate and a likely full House vote by Thursday.

The bill finances the day-to-day operations of every Cabinet department, provides more than $5 billion of President Obama's $6.2 billion request to combat Ebola at home and abroad, and allocates money to conduct overseas military operations, including funds to fight Islamic State extremists.

However, the plan would only fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 27, 2015. That is a move by House GOP leaders to tee up a debate in early 2015 over the president's recent executive action that could suspend deportation for as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.

Some conservatives nevertheless want to wage that battle now, and use the current spending bill as leverage. Though the House voted last week against Obama's immigration plan, these lawmakers want to do more.

Strong opposition to the House budget plan from the Republicans’ conservative caucus could force GOP chamber leaders to rely on Democratic votes to avert the government shutdown.

House Speaker John Boehner can afford to lose only 17 caucus votes before he must turn to support from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi, D-Calif., has said her party would be willing to help but has signaled she may make some demands.

Among those expected to vote against the bill is South Carolina GOP Rep. Mike Mulvaney.

“I don’t think we've proven to people who just re-elected us that we’re doing everything that we can,” he told FoxNews.com on Tuesday before the bill was released. “Now we’re going to fund the emperor (President Obama) without putting up a fight? That’s hard for me to swallow.”

On the Senate side, conservatives such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Mike Lee, R-Utah; and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., could create problems in passing the bill.

They have pushed for an aggressive attack plan over Obama's immigration actions. If any chooses to filibuster, it could draw out the process, potentially pushing debate into the weekend -- requiring Congress to either pass a stopgap funding bill or risk at least a short partial shutdown.

Senate Republican aides said Monday that they didn’t expect their bosses to fight in a way that risks a partial shutdown.

They suggest that the timing, with the Senate not expected to take a crack at the bill until Thursday or later, makes it difficult to launch a major fight.

"It cuts against us," one Republican Senate aide said. "Leadership has played its hand very well."

Another top aide for a conservative senator said the battle comes down to how much the outside groups want to engage and “there's not a lot we can do."

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