Last-minute objections

Pelosi raising last-minute objections to budget-tax package

By Jake Sherman, Lauren French and Burgess Everett

House Republicans and Democrats are meeting Wednesday morning to begin to grapple with a nearly $2 trillion tax and spending package, and members in both parties are raising last-minute issues.

House Democrats are concerned that repealing a ban on U.S. oil exports — the biggest Republican victory in the package — is included in the spending portion of the package, instead of the tax bill. That's a problem for Democrats because they're expected to provide the crux of votes for the omnibus spending bill and would rather not be in the position of voting for a proposal to benefit the oil industry. There's some concern that because of the oil provision, Democrats won't vote for the spending bill in as large numbers as previously expected.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also wanted more tax breaks for refineries affected by the lifting of the ban, as well as assistance for debt-crippled Puerto Rico. She's also raising questions about when a tax credit for renewable energy would be phased out.

Republicans, of course, are anxious that they gave away too much to Democrats.

Perhaps most worrisome on the surface is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's statement that she had concerns with the package Wednesday morning. But a senior Democratic aide said, "Pelosi knows [Democrats] got more than their share."

"This is to placate members angry about crude oil," the aide said. "She wanted it to go into [the tax] extenders [bill] because Democrats already hated that, but [Speaker Paul] Ryan said no because [Republicans] needed something" they like in the omnibus package in order to provide some level of support for it.

House Republican leadership has pushed back the vote on the spending bill from Thursday to Friday, keeping a promise to give lawmakers three days to read the bill. The tax bill will come to a vote Thursday.

Senate Republicans will hold a special caucus on Wednesday morning to discuss the deal, with Senate Democrats to meet later. There is no final decision on how the Senate will process the package once it passes the House, but leadership hopes to wrap everything up by Friday if cooperation from all 100 senators can be secured.