Congressional leaders and President Obama are finding it hard to pass a spending bill to keep the government open past midnight tonight. Both conservatives and liberals are refusing to vote in favor of the trillion dollar deal struck by Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Harry Reid and President Obama. All three are asking their members to just pass the 2015 government funding bill.
However, very few are willing to hold their noses on this one.
Conservatives are demanding congress deal with President Obama’s executive order on amnesty. In fact, the Capitol Hill switchboard has been overwhelmed by calls to Congress protesting the funding of the executive order. Congressmen and women are also upset for the two days they were given to read the massive trillion dollar bill.
Meanwhile, democrats like former speaker Nancy Pelosi are fighting tooth and nail against President Obama. She called the bill an insult to her constituents, and while she said her Democratic colleagues were free to vote however they wanted, she would oppose it and urged them to do the same.
“We’re being asked to vote for a moral hazard,” Mrs. Pelosi said, decrying the deal struck by Senate Democrats and House Republicans, saying it gave Wall Street banks the chance to trade in derivatives on taxpayer-insured money, and that it raised a campaign finance limit for how much individuals could give to national political parties.
Also leading the charge was Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, who is up in arms over the face that Obama has agreed to accept a GOP rider to undo parts of the 2010 Wall Street reform law as part of the package.
Mr. Obama was making calls to House Democrats to try to round up support Thursday afternoon, and GOP leaders were trying to cull their number of defectors, which some lawmakers estimated to be as high as six dozen.
But Democrats said Rep. Waters was making calls urging members to stand firm in opposition.
At this time it is unclear if any of the sides can come together and avoid a shut down of the government. What is clear is that lawmakers need to start taking the time to work out a true budget and just hobble together a massive continuing resolution packed with layers of pork.
They need to actually work.
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