CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Sept. 21, 2011 – 10:51 p.m.
Leaders Regroup After Loss on CR
By Alan K. Ota and Kerry Young, CQ Staff
Congressional leaders are still seeking a way to keep the government running past the end of next week — and replenish dwindling disaster aid accounts — after a conservative revolt scuttled a stopgap bill backed by House Republican leadership.
With the clock ticking before a potential government shutdown at the end of next week, and Congress scheduled to recess on Friday, leaders face tough choices. Once again, the two parties are locked in a showdown over spending, with Republicans demanding cutbacks and offsets for disaster aid and Democrats opposing those moves.
A senior House Republican aide said party leaders were likely to pare spending levels in the continuing resolution (CR) to attract additional support from conservative lawmakers. But leaders had not decided what to do with disaster money that was supposed to hitch a ride on the stopgap, the aide said.
Regardless, trimming the level of spending in the stopgap, which had been tied to caps enacted in the debt limit law (PL 112-25), would likely spark strong opposition from Senate Democrats.
“The problem is the Senate will just send it back to us with a bigger number,” the aide said, referring to efforts to pass a more restrictive CR in the House.
The House voted 195-230 on Wednesday to reject the CR (
Many House conservatives had wanted to hold spending closer to the $1.019 trillion level set by the House-adopted budget resolution (
Sen.
“That is a nonstarter in the Senate,” Schumer said of lowering the spending level in the CR. “It will not get anywhere.”
House Minority Whip
Options in House
GOP leaders might move to remove from the bill a controversial provision, championed by Majority Leader
Yet, while that might get the measure through the House, it would risk alienating GOP conservatives and might weaken Cantor’s standing in the caucus.
Leaders Regroup After Loss on CR
Sen.
“There are any number of Democrats that would be willing to work with the Republican leadership and negotiate a good, solid continuing resolution with disaster funding,” Landrieu said Wednesday.
The House Rules Committee approved a same-day rule Wednesday night, which would allow leaders to quickly bring up a new spending bill. But Rules Chairman
“It’s important for us to make sure we get a continuing resolution passed,” Dreier said. “I think we’ll be able to get her done.”
Dreier said reducing the cost of the CR would also require shortening its duration. The measure the House rejected Wednesday evening would have kept the government operating through Nov. 18, close to the deadline for the new joint deficit reduction committee to complete its work to find $1.2 trillion in additional deficit reduction over the next decade.
Dreier was also noncommittal about separating the stopgap spending from disaster relief money. “We don’t know yet,” he said. “We’ll know by tomorrow.”
Sen.
And Sen.
“Republicans are going to talk about this. It’s going to be resolved,” Portman said.
Disaster Aid
However the funding level in the CR is resolved, the two parties also have to reconcile differences over disaster spending. The House would have provided $1 billion in fiscal 2011 money for the nation’s Disaster Relief Fund, offsetting that amount with a $1.5 billion cut in an energy-efficient auto program. The CR also would have provided $2.65 billion in fiscal 2012 disaster spending.
Senate Democrats prefer a measure sponsored by Majority Leader
Landrieu, the chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and a leading opponent of the GOP offset, accused Republicans of playing politics at a time when the nation’s Disaster Relief Fund is almost exhausted.
Leaders Regroup After Loss on CR
The fund is down to about $215 million, from the roughly $800 million it held in late August as Hurricane Irene approached the United States. And some lawmakers are concerned that it might run out before a CR would refill its coffers Oct. 1.
“That burn rate is so hot right now,” Landrieu said, referring to the rapid depletion of the fund.
Niels Lesniewski contributed to this story.