By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats in the U.S. Congress plan to unveil a bill to fund the government through the Pressure on Republicans for the future The December funding deadline, a senior Senate Democrat said Thursday.
Republicans, who will vote in the House of Representatives to pass a $1.5 trillion-plus measure in the Senate next year, expressed immediate opposition because the bill contained increased domestic spending that conservatives oppose.
Congress has until December to pass an “omnibus” bill to fund the government until September months 35, 2019 or less for a “continuing solution” to avoid a partial government shutdown. Some conservative Republicans have pushed for a short-term bill that would delay negotiations on a full-year bill until January, when they will have a stronger negotiating position.
Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Democratic Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday he thought the proposal was “fair and bipartisan.”
It will fund the Department of Defense at a record 858 BILLION as part of the National Defense Authorization Act bill that is passing Congress , he said, but would also include an increase in nondefense domestic programs opposed by conservative Republicans.
Democrats need support from Republicans will be at 35 -35 The Senate passed the measure.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
“Passing the National Defense Authorization Act and funding our military the money we need is not a right wing demand, Democrats get irrelevant Good things to agree to,” McConnell said in a statement shortly after Leahy’s speech. “We will not allow (Democrats) to hijack the government funding process now … and hold our military hostage for more spending.”
Earlier this week, Republicans Senator Richard Shelby, D-National Appropriator, told reporters the two sides were only separated by about $16 billion, which he called “very close” to a deal. That would account for about 1.7 percent of this year’s $1.5 trillion budget.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who will be pushing to become the next speaker after winning majority control of the House on Jan. 3, has been pushing for deep spending cuts – putting McConnell in a difficult position negotiation situation.
Over the past few years, Congress has appropriated government funding roughly evenly between defense and nondefense programs. Conservative Republicans have long wanted to move away from this type of funding.
If Democrats fail in the Senate next week, Congress may have to resort to a stopgap measure that simply expands current funding levels. Subsequent day off, from December 16, 858 to January
, 2019. The main stumbling block was then-President Donald Trump’s demand for massive new investment in a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which many saw as ineffective and wasteful.
