Government funding debate

"Democrats push government funding debate to the brink

By HEATHER CAYGLE and ELANA SCHOR

Democrats are pushing a short-term government funding extension to the brink, renewing talk of a possible shutdown if lawmakers can’t reach an agreement by Friday.

After House Democratic leaders vowed to withhold support for a short-term funding bill if Republicans plow ahead with a vote to repeal Obamacare this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday night objected to a deal that would unanimously approve a one-week stopgap that's expected to clear the House on Friday.

Schumer raised last-minute objections "because we still have to resolve the issue of poison-pill riders" before they pass the one-week funding bill, he said on the floor. The New York Democrat added that "we are indeed making great progress."

Democrats declined to elaborate on the nature of the policy restrictions holding up an agreement. But aides said that an agreement to keep the government open until the new fiscal year starts in October is well within reach, suggesting that the last-minute objections are likely to be resolved on Friday.

The GOP's planned Obamacare repeal still cast a shadow over the funding debate, however, after House Democrats threatened to oppose a short-term bill if Republicans pressed for a health care vote this week.

“If Republicans pursue this partisan path of forcing Americans to pay more for less and destabilizing our county's health care system — without even knowing how much their bill will cost — Republicans should be prepared to pass a one-week [funding extension] on their own," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said in a statement.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered the news in a phone call to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday morning. Hoyer had a similar conversation with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

"They are in a lose, lose, lose situation," Pelosi said about Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare. "The minute they cast that vote they put doo-doo on their shoe, tattoo on their forehead."

Republican leaders still haven't made a decision about whether to bring the Obamacare repeal to the floor this week. But privately, senior GOP sources say a vote is more likely next week.

The Rules Committee, which controls floor debate, will meet Thursday afternoon but it's unclear what's on the panel's agenda.

Ryan dismissed Democrats' threats, saying he's confident the government won't shut down.

"The reason this government funding bill is not ready is because Democrats have been dragging their feet," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters. "I'm confident we'll be able to pass a short-term extension."

A Democratic leadership aide said Democrats are still open to supporting a short-term extension if the overall budget talks are "headed in a good direction and we just need time to do the paperwork etc."

“But that cooperation is greatly impeded if Republicans attempt to use a [the one-week extension] to jam the Trumpcare bill through the House," the aide added.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that while he agreed with House Democrats on the importance of keeping the government funded before "rushing through" an Obamacare repeal, he was not yet prepared to ask his caucus to adopt the same strategy. "We're not up to that yet," he told reporters.

Current government funding runs out at midnight Friday. After settling major outstanding issues over border wall funding and Obamacare subsidies earlier this week, leaders seemed on track for a deal, but all agreed they would likely need a short-term extension to work out final details.

Now House Democrats say its outrageous to ask them to negotiate a bipartisan funding deal in good faith while Republicans are working behind the scenes to jam through a bill dismantling Democrats’ signature legislative achievement.

Schumer sounded a far more positive note than Pelosi on Thursday morning in a floor speech, saying that “I believe we are close to a final agreement.” But the New York Democrat also warned the House against pushing through an Obamacare repeal bill whose "chances of survival in the Senate are small," citing procedural hurdles that would require the measure to clear 60 votes in the upper chamber.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a floor speech Thursday that “we expect to pass” a stopgap bill to give senators time next week to examine a longer-term funding bill.

Other Senate Democrats said they are supportive of House Democrats' anger over the Obamacare repeal vote but don't seem ready to commit to the same strategy.

"I certainly would be appalled if the House Republicans, at a time when people aren't paying attention, try to jam through a health care bill that will hurt millions of Americans," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, while stressing she had been in meetings all morning and wasn't briefed on House Democrats' plan.

But will Democrats hold up a one-week extension as leverage? "I don't know what they're doing in the House right now," Murray responded.

It’s unclear whether House Republicans have enough votes to pass a short-term funding extension without Democratic help. Conservative lawmakers hate temporary spending bills and generally oppose them. Republicans can afford to lose only 22 votes.

"I don’t have the power to shut down government. I wouldn’t do it, it’s not in my value system," Pelosi said in a news conference Thursday morning. "I’ve bailed them out several times so they didn’t shut down government," the California Democrat added.

GOP leaders are still coming up short in their effort to round up enough votes to pass the latest Obamacare repeal plan. Most conservatives are on board, but GOP leaders are having a hard time persuading moderates to back the bill, which would allow states to opt out of providing key Obamacare provisions.