Budget

Reid: GOP 'needs to take yes for an answer' on budget

By Burgess Everett, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

Harry Reid came to the Senate floor on Tuesday morning to announce that the end-of-year tax and spending deal would lift the oil export ban in return for new efforts to combat climate change — if only Republican leaders will take it.

The speech by the Senate minority leader offered the first detailed, on-the-record glimpse of the emerging agreement to preserve a broad swath of tax breaks for businesses and individuals and to fund the government through September. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are pressing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to accept major clean-energy concessions if Democrats agree to reinstate U.S. petroleum exports, a practice banned for decades.

Ryan and McConnell have each said over the past 24 hours that a deal is close and could be delivered as soon as Tuesday. And by pulling back the curtain on some of the specifics, Reid is also trying to shift the responsibility to Republicans to accept the deal. To hear Reid tell it, Democrats have gone as far as they will go in the end-of-the-year discussions and now it is time for a “reality check.”

“We’ve made it clear if they want this oil export ban [lifted], there must be included in this [deal] policies to reduce ourr carbon emissions and encourage use of renewable energy,” Reid said. “We’ve made multiple offers to the Republicans that were certainly doable, reasonable, and all the Republicans had to do was say ‘yes.’”

Reid said that at this point congressional leaders can either seal the existing framework that’s been lingering now for more than a week or drop the oil export provisions altogether and move on. Democrats are also seeking expanded child care tax credits as part of the negotiations, while Republicans want to limit government payouts to insurers participating in Obamacare.

“Republicans need to take ‘yes’ for an answer,” Reid said. “At this pace, we’re going to be here through Christmas.”

McConnell has also vowed to reauthorize an expired health care program and compensation fund for 9/11 first responders and victims, a $4.6 billion deal that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer's office says is almost done.

“The finish line is in sight,” Schumer said.

In typical fashion, McConnell offered little public information on the state of discussions on Tuesday other than to say “important progress” being made. On Monday night, Ryan told his GOP members to expect a partial victory on the oil export ban while losing, for now, the fight over imposing new restrictions on refugees from the Middle East.

McConnell has vowed to keep the Senate in session until the omnibus spending bill and tax extenders package is finalized, while Ryan wants to give his members three days to read the deal. Without action on a short-term spending bill, the government shuts down after Wednesday.