Congress averts government shutdown; funding talks drag on

[December 12, 2015]  By David Lawder
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill funding the government through Wednesday, giving congressional negotiators more time to work on a $1.15 trillion bill paying for federal programs through September.

The House approved the stop-gap measure by a voice vote, and President Barack Obama promptly signed it into law.

Without the legislation, federal agencies would have run out of money at midnight, forcing the closing of national parks and threatening to disrupt programs ranging from veterans' assistance to education loans.

But Congress looked set to push up against the new deadline next week as talks on legislation to fund the government through September 2016 dragged on over efforts to attach controversial policy provisions to the spending measure. Those included Republican proposals to lift a ban on crude oil exports and tighten screening of Syrians seeking refuge in the United States.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the earliest votes planned for next week would take place on Tuesday evening, giving the Senate just over 24 hours to meet the new funding deadline.

McCarthy dismissed talk among Democrats that a longer temporary funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or "CR," may be needed to carry the government over a holiday break into January. He said Republicans intended to finish the spending bill early next week.

"It is our intention to have our work done and not need to pass any further CRs," McCarthy said in an exchange on the House floor.

Commenting on parallel negotiations over a permanent renewal of several expired tax breaks, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that Democrats would not support the measure as proposed, adding that it should not be combined with the spending measure.

Pelosi told a news conference that Republicans had loaded up the tax "extender" package was too expensive, with too many breaks for oil companies and other special interests. Republicans also had refused Democratic demands to index a child tax credit for working families to inflation.

She said Republicans could pass their tax plan separately from the spending bill without Democratic votes, adding, "We will not be accomplices."

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Jeff Mason; editing by Mohammad Zargham, Andrew Hay and David Gregorio)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.