Government Spending Bill Faces Uncertain Fate

Melissa Quinn / December 10, 2014

With a deadline looming to avoid another partial shutdown of government, members of Congress, staffers and interest groups are gearing up for a House vote Thursday on a long-awaited spending bill, which arrived at the 11th hour.

Republicans and Democrats released the text of the massive government-funding bill late Tuesday night. Dubbed the “CRomnibus” for its marriage of what Congress calls a continuing resolution and an omnibus spending bill, lawmakers had little more than 48 hours to read the legislation before voting on it.

“Refusing to even try to stop Obama’s amnesty now is not acceptable,” says Heritage Action’s Russ Vought.

One issue of concern for conservatives in the spending bill is money for the Department of Homeland Security, in particular immigration enforcement agencies. Conservatives want to block President Obama’s executive actions, taken without Congress, to grant legal status to 5 million or more illegal immigrants and allow them to apply for work permits without fear of deportation.

Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate appropriations committees agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security through February and the remaining 11 federal departments through September, the end of the fiscal year.

Conservatives pushed for a measure funding the entire government only through January, which would allow early debate by the new Congress as Republicans take over the Senate and strengthen their majority in the House. The 114th Congress begins Jan. 6.

Conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of The Heritage Foundation, are urging lawmakers to vote “no” on the spending bill for providing a “blank check for amnesty” and providing money for special interests.

“History has demonstrated that if members of Congress lack the will to fight now, with all momentum and public opinion on their side, they will be no more likely to take a stand next year,” said Russ Vought, vice president of Heritage Action. “Refusing to even try to stop Obama’s amnesty now is not acceptable.”

On the left, the AFL-CIO and Teamsters labor unions and the government watchdog Common Cause are urging “no” votes.

Passing the spending bill could prove to be an uphill battle for House leadership, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also are beginning to push back. Between 40 and 80 Republicans could oppose it, observers say.

Liberal Democrats such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland also said they would vote against the spending bill.

Final passage will require 218 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate.

Here’s a rundown on the CRomnibus by the numbers.

• $1.1 trillion in funding for the federal government
• 1,603 pages of text
• 11 federal agencies funded through Sept. 30, 2015
• 1 agency, the Department of Homeland Security, funded through Feb. 27, 2015
• 9 months for which most of the government is funded
• $948 million for the Department of Health and Human Services to assist “unaccompanied” children who came into the U.S. across the southern border
• $14 million for school districts enrolling the unaccompanied children, through Health and Human Services
• $260 million in aid to Central American countries that are home to those children
• $351 million to the Department of Justice for “expenses necessary for the administration of pardon and clemency petitions and immigration-related activities”
• $345.6 million cut from the Internal Revenue Service
• $324,000 is the new maximum donation (10 times the current limit) an individual can contribute to a national party committee for conventions, building expenses and recounts
• $5.4 billion for U.S. embassies around the world, including money to implement recommendations of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board
• $5.4 billion to combat Ebola in the United States and abroad
• $500 million to aid and arm “appropriately vetted elements” of the Syrian opposition in the fight to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, the terrorist group also known as the Islamic State
• 451 funding restrictions
• 0 funding restrictions for President Obama’s executive actions to change the immigration system