Cromnibus Meets Resistance in Senate, House Passes Another Short-Term CR

Hope that the Senate could expeditiously pass the FY2015 “cromnibus” appropriations bill faded today and the House passed another short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that would keep the government operating through Wednesday, December 17 if needed.  The two-day CR agreed to yesterday expires tomorrow (Saturday) at midnight.

Objections to the cromnibus — a mix of a CR for the Department of Homeland Security and a full-year omnibus appropriations for everyone else — in the Senate parallel those in the House.  Conservative Republicans want to send a stronger message to President Obama about their disapproval of his executive order on immigration, liberal Democrats are angry at a provision that would change financial regulations under the Dodd-Frank law, and some in each party dislike language that would change campaign finance laws.

In the Senate, a single Senator can block action.  A small example of that just occurred when Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wanted to recess the Senate until Monday afternoon to continue consideration of the bill, but Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objected.  Lee argued that the Senate should not take the weekend off when these issues require debate.  Reid’s motion to recess until Monday required unanimous consent, so Lee’s objection was all that was needed to reject that plan.  Reid apparently expected the objection and had another resolution in hand to have the Senate return to work tomorrow instead.  There was no objection to that motion.

It is still possible that the cromnibus could pass the Senate tomorrow and the new CR would not be needed, but that seems unlikely at this point.   It is more likely that the Senate will pass the new CR tomorrow instead of the cromnibus and — hopefully — complete work by next Wednesday. The key is that there seems to be no talk of a government shutdown and Congress can pass CRs of any duration as required. 

In addition to the cromnibus, the Senate is still expected to act on at least two other bills — extension of tax breaks and reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) — as well as a number of presidential nominations.  The Hill newspaper reports, in fact, that it is the presidential nominations that are the real sticking point.

Today, the Senate did pass the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), clearing it for the President.