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Sept. 22, 2011 – 11:33 p.m.

Reid: House CR ‘Will Be Rejected’

By Alan K. Ota and Kerry Young, CQ Staff

A stopgap spending bill tweaked Thursday by House leaders to pick up Republican votes was rejected out of hand by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid even before it was sent to his chamber.

“The bill the House will vote on tonight is not an honest effort at compromise,” Reid said in a written statement. “It will be rejected by the Senate.”

The House passed the bill early Friday by a vote of 219-203.

Reid’s definitive response was a signal that the two parties remain locked in the same spending struggle that has dominated Capitol Hill all year. It now seems more certain that enacting a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open after the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year will not be accomplished before the start of next week’s scheduled congressional recess.

“The Senate is ready to stay in Washington next week to do the work the American people expect us to do, and I hope the House Republican leadership will do the same,” Reid said. Both chambers had planned to take the week off because the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana falls in the middle.

Reid’s comments reflect unified Democratic opposition to the way the House bill handles emergency aid needed after recent natural disasters. Democrats in both chambers want more money than the House GOP measure would provide, and they object to provisions that would rescind prior appropriations to offset some of the disaster aid.

For much of Thursday, House Republican leaders labored to corral enough votes from their own members to pass the stopgap spending bill (HR 2608), which had been rejected the day before on a 195-230 vote — with 48 Republicans opposed.

Leaders responded to the setback on Thursday with one small change that would add a $100 million offset for the disaster account aimed at a loan guarantee program that supported the defunct solar panel maker Solyndra.

The continuing resolution would run through Nov. 18 and allow the government to keep spending at a rate that reflects the $1.043 trillion limit set by the debt limit law (PL 112-25) enacted in August.

The bill also would provide about $3.65 billion in disaster aid, $1 billion of which would be available for fiscal 2011 immediately upon enactment. The $1 billion would be offset by eliminating $1.5 billion for an Energy Department program that provides loan guarantees to automakers for the production of fuel-efficient vehicles. In addition, the bill would cut the loan guarantee program that Solyndra used before it went bankrupt.

House Weighs Options

Given how divided the two parties are, this time over offsetting disaster aid, it remains unclear where the two sides might find common ground. Removing the offsets would pave the way for Democratic votes in both chambers to clear the package, but that would anger House conservatives and potentially undermine GOP leadership.

For much of the day Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders worked to come up with a package that would win enough Republican support to pass the House. They weighed several options, ultimately rejecting a call to reduce the overall spending level — which was certain to draw additional Senate opposition — and settling on the addition of the Solyndra provision as the only change.

Reid: House CR ‘Will Be Rejected’

Many House conservatives had wanted to hold spending closer to the $1.019 trillion level set by the House-adopted budget resolution (H Con Res 34). And as Republicans left a caucus meeting Thursday, it was clear that some of them favored a new CR that would lower the spending caps included in the debt limit deal.

Even though the spending reductions would have been relatively minor, such a step would surely have run afoul of Senate Democrats because it would have undone a key piece of the politically painful debt compromise.

Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said after the meeting that the “mood” among members regarding the stopgap rejected by the House the day before was, “Why didn’t we pass this yesterday?”

“I think people just want to get it done,” Simpson said. “They want to take this talk of a government shutdown off the table, because nobody wants that to happen.”

GOP leaders ultimately made a successful pitch for another vote on the original $1.043 trillion plan, with the new offsets, counting on the fact that they could convince enough of the 48 Republicans who revolted over the spending level that it was the best deal they could get.

Republican Dan Burton of Indiana, who voted against the bill Wednesday, said Boehner’s team made a persuasive case for a second vote.

“They said if we try to cut it, it will come back from the Senate with more spending in it. I voted against it, but based on their explanation, I will vote for it next time,” said Burton, a senior member of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Burton said he believed RSC members who opposed the earlier continuing resolution would switch and vote “yes” on the same package now.

“Trying to do anything differently opens the door for the Senate to increase spending,” said Charles Boustany Jr., R-La.

Another option Republicans considered would have dropped the disaster spending offset. All but six House Democrats opposed the measure on Wednesday, with many citing the offset as a reason.

But some GOP lawmakers said there was concern that most Democrats would continue to oppose the measure even if the offset were dropped.

Another option considered and dropped was to replace the energy loan guarantee offset with defense cuts.

But almost immediately, Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., quashed the idea. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., said Boehner agreed with him that defense cuts should not be the “bill payer” for the continuing resolution.

Reid: House CR ‘Will Be Rejected’

But the idea of a bill with a smaller top line ultimately gained little traction in the caucus. For one thing, Senate Democrats have said they would reject any continuing resolution that altered the fiscal 2012 spending caps included in the debt deal.

A second vote on the original bill or dropping the offset are “the only options that exist,” said Charles Bass, R-N.H.

Reid and other top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, urged House Republicans to move a “clean” CR without the disaster aid component, which they have wanted to pass separately.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seemed to agree with Reid’s watchful strategy. “We’ll wait and see,” McConnell said, “and then decide how to respond.”

Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this story.

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