House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) says he wants to move spending bills individually next year to avoid having to once again consider an omnibus package at the end of the year. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Congress on Friday cleared a year-end spending and tax deal with a strong bipartisan support, despite grumbling from both parties over what was included in the agreement and what got left out.
Members left for the year soon after the final gavel fell, with Republican leaders in both chambers promising a more orderly process next year to avoid the now routine drama of Congress passing massive budget bills late in the year with the threat of a government shutdown looming.
Early Friday morning the House passed the $1.1 trillion spending portion of the deal on a 316 to 113 vote, with 150 Republicans and 166 Democrats supporting the measure, after passing the $622 billion tax section of the agreement Thursday on a 318 to 109 vote.
The Senate soon after passed both parts of the agreement on a 65 to 33 vote. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law.
There was concern until earlier this morning that there would not be enough support for the spending bill in the House, but last minute lobbying efforts by leadership secured far more than the needed votes.
Heading into the vote, House Democrats were wary of the $1.1 trillion appropriations package because it would lift a ban on crude oil exports that has been in place for 40 years, while many Republicans said it allows for too much spending and doesn’t do enough on issues such as immigration and abortion.
The strong vote tally in the face of these concerns is a victory for new House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), whose allies had pushed their reluctant GOP colleagues to vote for the bill arguing it would strengthen their new leader’s ability to negotiate deals next year.
“He’s going to be our chief negotiator, we’re going to have other deals,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of the whip team and the Appropriations Committee said Thursday. “Divided government dictates that so we want him to have as strong a hand as he possibly can.”
[Paul Ryan notches a big victory, but the true test may come next year]
Some conservatives were unhappy to see the spending and tax deals pass. House Freedom Caucus member Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) said both bills are loaded with special interest handouts and spending increases that will only fuel the anti-establishment wing of the Republican party.
“It’s an early Christmas present for Donald Trump,” Huelskamp said. “This is just more of the same era of bad deals in Washington.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also once again demonstrated her ability to deliver Democratic votes when needed and in recent days she has emphasized that despite what her caucus doesn’t like about the bill, it contains many policies eagerly sought by Democrats.
Congress passed sweeping fiscal legislation Dec. 18, that will avert a government shutdown, lock in billions of dollars of tax breaks for corporations and scrap a 40-year ban on the export of U.S. oil. (Reuters)
Pelosi told reporters Friday morning that adding the oil export ban to the spending bill made it very difficult to convince some Democrats to vote for the legislation, but she said that by allowing it to be included Democrats were able to extract concessions of their own, such as an extension of renewable energy tax credits.
“Absent big oil we could not have had many of these other successes,” Pelosi told reporters before the vote. “[Republicans] wanted big oil so much that they gave away the store.”
There was far less drama in the Senate over the agreement, which both Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pitched as a deal with wins for both parties and the best that could be expected in a divided government.
Most Republican presidential candidates panned the legislation.
“If anyone needed more evidence of why the American people are suffering at the hands of their own government, look no further than the budget deal announced by Speaker Ryan,” Trump, the GOP front-runner, said in a statement Thursday. “In order to avoid a government shutdown, a cowardly threat from an incompetent President, the elected Republicans in Congress threw in the towel and showed absolutely no budget discipline.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hp-top-table-main_budget-940am:homepage/story
Congress on Friday cleared a year-end spending and tax deal with a strong bipartisan support, despite grumbling from both parties over what was included in the agreement and what got left out.
Members left for the year soon after the final gavel fell, with Republican leaders in both chambers promising a more orderly process next year to avoid the now routine drama of Congress passing massive budget bills late in the year with the threat of a government shutdown looming.
Early Friday morning the House passed the $1.1 trillion spending portion of the deal on a 316 to 113 vote, with 150 Republicans and 166 Democrats supporting the measure, after passing the $622 billion tax section of the agreement Thursday on a 318 to 109 vote.
The Senate soon after passed both parts of the agreement on a 65 to 33 vote. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law.
There was concern until earlier this morning that there would not be enough support for the spending bill in the House, but last minute lobbying efforts by leadership secured far more than the needed votes.
Heading into the vote, House Democrats were wary of the $1.1 trillion appropriations package because it would lift a ban on crude oil exports that has been in place for 40 years, while many Republicans said it allows for too much spending and doesn’t do enough on issues such as immigration and abortion.
The strong vote tally in the face of these concerns is a victory for new House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), whose allies had pushed their reluctant GOP colleagues to vote for the bill arguing it would strengthen their new leader’s ability to negotiate deals next year.
“He’s going to be our chief negotiator, we’re going to have other deals,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a member of the whip team and the Appropriations Committee said Thursday. “Divided government dictates that so we want him to have as strong a hand as he possibly can.”
[Paul Ryan notches a big victory, but the true test may come next year]
Some conservatives were unhappy to see the spending and tax deals pass. House Freedom Caucus member Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) said both bills are loaded with special interest handouts and spending increases that will only fuel the anti-establishment wing of the Republican party.
“It’s an early Christmas present for Donald Trump,” Huelskamp said. “This is just more of the same era of bad deals in Washington.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also once again demonstrated her ability to deliver Democratic votes when needed and in recent days she has emphasized that despite what her caucus doesn’t like about the bill, it contains many policies eagerly sought by Democrats.
Congress passed sweeping fiscal legislation Dec. 18, that will avert a government shutdown, lock in billions of dollars of tax breaks for corporations and scrap a 40-year ban on the export of U.S. oil. (Reuters)
Pelosi told reporters Friday morning that adding the oil export ban to the spending bill made it very difficult to convince some Democrats to vote for the legislation, but she said that by allowing it to be included Democrats were able to extract concessions of their own, such as an extension of renewable energy tax credits.
“Absent big oil we could not have had many of these other successes,” Pelosi told reporters before the vote. “[Republicans] wanted big oil so much that they gave away the store.”
There was far less drama in the Senate over the agreement, which both Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pitched as a deal with wins for both parties and the best that could be expected in a divided government.
Most Republican presidential candidates panned the legislation.
“If anyone needed more evidence of why the American people are suffering at the hands of their own government, look no further than the budget deal announced by Speaker Ryan,” Trump, the GOP front-runner, said in a statement Thursday. “In order to avoid a government shutdown, a cowardly threat from an incompetent President, the elected Republicans in Congress threw in the towel and showed absolutely no budget discipline.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hp-top-table-main_budget-940am:homepage/story
