Shutdown Averted Over Spending Bill, House Passes $1TR Spending Bill
EmailCapitol Hill is breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Both issues – the payroll tax cut and the spending bill – that threatened to shut down the government have been all but solved. There will be no government shutdown.
“Everyone doesn’t have to worry about the government closing today,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor Friday morning.
Agreement came from the Senate Republican leader.
“I think everybody should be reassured that’s not going to happen,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., echoed. “The conference report has been signed and we’re moving toward completing the basic work of government through next September 30th very shortly.”
A short time later, by a bipartisan vote of 296-121, the House of Representatives passed the conference report that bundled nine appropriations bills in the form of the so-called Megabus. 147 Republicans and 149 Democrats joined forces to vote in favor of the package. Eighty-six Republicans and 35 Democrats voted against the bill.
“This bipartisan, bicameral agreement reflects our year-long focus on the American people’s top priority: jobs,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said following the bill’s passage. “Now it’s time for Senate Democrats to support both this and our bipartisan measure extending payroll tax relief, extending and reforming unemployment insurance, and speeding up a decision on the bipartisan Keystone XL energy project.”
House Minority Leader Nancy urged the GOP to transcend that sense of bipartisanship into the year-end jobs bill pending before Congress.
“Today, the House came together in a spirit of compromise to keep the doors of the federal government open,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement after the vote. “Now, it is time for Republicans to remain at the negotiating table to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans and unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. We must not recess for the holidays until we get the job done. We must act to strengthen our economy, our middle class, and our future.”
The Senate is not scheduled to vote until tomorrow on the omnibus, technically after the deadline for final passage. The Majority Leader said final passage from the Senate is not necessary today in order to avoid a shutdown at midnight tonight, that it will be just fine to hold the vote tomorrow with no ramifications.
“There’s a ruling from this White House, its predecessors that if one House passes a spending bill as we are doing here, and there’s a presumption it will pass in the other body, the time is extended for 24 hours,” Reid said.
After the Senate votes Saturday, the omnibus will be sent to the White House.
Both sides in the Senate will continue to work through the weekend on the payroll tax proposal, with both parties stressing that issues still remain that need to be worked out. But today, both sides again spoke confidently that a deal is on the horizon.
There is a proposal in the work for a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the payroll plan – likely a short, two-month, $40 billion extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and the current Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re very, very close,” Reid said today on the Senate floor.
“We are making significant progress and reaching an agreement on a package that will have bipartisan support,” McConnell echoed today. “I think we’re going to get to that place. And I share his view that good progress is being made.”
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To bad, we might have saved some money.
Posted by: deadwrestler | December 16, 2011, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
I’m actually disappointed the government won’t be shutting down. Washington had a shot at becoming a productive city for a little while.
Posted by: Dave | December 16, 2011, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Hello America, Dec Four Colley Birds Day 2011,
You really didin’t think they would let the goverment shut down did you?
Nope the U.S. Bureaucrats are like a dieseling engine running on fumes.
they just cann’t shutdown from spending.
The only way you could get them to stop spending would be to get rid of them.
sincerely Fezzy Bear
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | December 16, 2011, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
These guys talk like they did a great thing? Only in politics can you argue, bicker and play partisan games then get a little work done and expect a pat on the back. I say vote them all out. I will not vote for any incumbent.
Posted by: NoSpin1600 | December 16, 2011, 1:23 pm 1:23 pm
I take no comfort that US citizens can now legally be disappeared in their own country.
Posted by: Dave | December 16, 2011, 1:23 pm 1:23 pm
This is not such good news. Nothing has really been resolved. Avoiding raising taxes on the wealthy and making some real changes in this country’s health care system will have to wait until the 2012 election is over. The fact that doctors can continue to gouge senior citizens for medical care through Medicare is an abomination. The fact that private insurance companies can pick and chose who they will insure with no regard for real health care needs is ludicrous. The complete lack of cooperation and comprise of the two major political parties in this country is an embarrassment.
Posted by: rohnertpark1 | December 16, 2011, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
If shutting down the government meant their congressional pay would stop, I’d be OK with it. Unfortunately, that probably is not how it would work.
Posted by: newcountryman | December 16, 2011, 2:46 pm 2:46 pm
I am by no means politically loyal to any one party but choose to vote with the country’s best interest. The republican party has really cancelled any hope of receiving my vote. Failure to raise taxes on the wealthy when they are willing to accept tax increases back to the clinton era. Reduce government spending in the middle of two wars and a bad economy due to the lack of government enforcement of the regulations. we correct the situation by laying off my people and cutting benefits. Sounds like a recipe for diaster not recovery. The economy will only recover once the government realize that we have to put more money into the majority of the people hands so that they can start spending to cause the industries to start producing.
Posted by: terence | December 16, 2011, 3:00 pm 3:00 pm
Too bad. A government shutdown actually needed to happen, to show how Obama blocks everything in Congress, through Reid, in the Senate.
The public is deceived about Obama, because all of the liberal biased media, like ABC, NBC, and CNN, basically manipulate the real news to make everything favor Obama.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | December 16, 2011, 4:06 pm 4:06 pm
Too bad. A government shutdown actually needed to happen, to show how Obama blocks everything in Congress, through Reid, in the Senate. Posted by: Rick McDaniel | December 16, 2011, 4:06 pm.
LOL! You sound just like Newt a few years ago, when he said that the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policies were working so well, no one thinks about terrorism anymore. So, he said, ‘it would be kind of a good thing if one terrorist slipped through and succeeded. So we would, ya know, remember that terrorism is out there and, ya know, be alert………’
Posted by: Searambler | December 16, 2011, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
Shutdown Averted…and the GOOD news is?
Posted by: TeaPartyNation | December 16, 2011, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
The fact that work is continuing on a CR means this is not a done deal. I don’t trust Harry Reid not to try to muck things up in the last hour before the Senate vote and if the Senate makes any changes it still has to go back to the House. This is political posturing on both sides but mainly to make Democrats and the President look good. They had the most to loose for linking the Omnibus bill to the payroll tax cuts and extended unemployment compensation resulting in a possible shutdown. Also, people are beginning to see that the change in direction by the State Department on the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline (the State Dept had initially approved it) and Obama’s insistence that it wait until after the elections is fooling no one. By forcing Obama’s hand in deciding in the next 60 days he risks angering two key constituent groups at a time when his approval numbers are sinking. If he says yes he angers the environmental left and if he says no he angers the unions. I truly don’t think Reid will allow that to happen so I don’t see this as anything but posturing on the parts of the Democrats while they strategize on a way to turn this on the GOP.
Posted by: MnNice | December 16, 2011, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
Most federal agencies received about a 2% budget cut in this bill. The military of course got a budget increase. Why that is when we are drawing down our wars, I have no idea. If they hope to make any kind of real dent in the budget deficit there will have to be social security, Medicare, and military cuts along with a roll back of ALL the bush tax cuts (not just those for the wealthy).
Posted by: Blaster man | December 16, 2011, 5:45 pm 5:45 pm
Once again the Senate is the roadblock. And Harry Reid sent them home for ONE MONTH ???? Why couldn’t they pass a 1 year deal? How many working people get 1 month off for the Christmas holidays?
Posted by: deanbob | December 18, 2011, 9:57 am 9:57 am