The margin could be razor thin, but House Republicans think they will pass their funding bill before the government shuts down Thursday.

Top aides and lawmakers on the GOP whip team privately say they believe between 150 and 175 Republicans will support the $1.1 trillion, nine-month government funding bill. And senior House Democrats predict that some of their members will help make up for the Republican defections to get the bill across the finish line.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and his staff have been in contact with Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) throughout the whole process, despite Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) public proclamation that Democrats were worried about provisions tucked into the bill that would loosen Wall Street regulations and campaign finance laws.

In fact, the deal to jack up donation limits to national party committees was negotiated by top aides to a leading Democrat and Republican: Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Of course, things could fall apart – it’s the last day of the 113th Congress, a less-than serendipitous two-year stretch that included a government shutdown and plenty of misjudgments by the House Republican leadership.

But the state of play in the final hours before a vote appears to set up Republican leaders to keep their post-election promise to avert any major crisis in the lame duck session, setting a smooth transition to control of Capitol Hill in January.

And even the worst-case scenario isn’t bad for either party: if the larger funding package falls apart, Boehner will put a three-month stop-gap spending bill on the floor to set up a fiscal fight next year when Republicans have control of both chambers.

In back-channel conversations, White House officials signaled to Capitol Hill Democrats that they prefer the so-called “cromnibus” than the short-term stop-gap bill. The larger package locks in many Democratic - and Republican - funding priorities deep into 2015.

As of late Wednesday evening, Republicans were not formally making fallback plans if the bill failed, and House Democrats weren’t formally whipping against the measure. House Democratic leadership plans to meet Thursday morning ahead of the vote. The government will begin to shut down by Friday morning if nothing passes. Almost no one expects a shutdown.

The session of Congress that started with a failed coup attempt against Boehner will likely end with a bipartisan vote to fund the government – including Obamacare and the president’s changes to immigration law that conservatives hate.

“Without the threat of a government shutdown, this sets up a direct challenge to the president’s unilateral action on immigration when we have new majorities in both chambers of Congress,” Boehner said, explaining his strategy heading into next year.

But there was plenty of angst Wednesday, and Republican and Democratic leaders are hoping it subsides by Thursday morning.

First of all, lawmakers are angry that they only had one full day to read a 1,600-page spending bill that extends all government funding through September 2015, and Homeland Security funding through February.
When lawmakers started digging into the bill, they found a provision that helps big banks trade derivatives in units backstopped by a government guarantee. And another last-minute addition would allow all national party committees to collect $777,000 each year from individuals, up from $32,400 annually under current law.

High-profile lawmakers like Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) vowed to vote against the bill, backed by progressive groups on the outside who were seizing on Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) skepticism.

Republicans were already worried that the legislation doesn’t pick a strong enough fight with Obama over his unilateral changes to immigration law – a few conservative members like Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Rep. Tom McClintock of California privately questioned the strategy. Boehner also faced criticism for breaking one of his central 2010 campaign promises: that he would advance legislative issues one at a time.

“All these provisions in this bill got worked out in a bipartisan bicameral fashion or they wouldn’t be in the
bill,” the speaker said. Boehner added, “When you get to the end of a two-year session of Congress, a lot of work gets built up and never gets to cross one floor or the other floor. And as a result, when we get to the end of session, members try to find a way to get their legislation across the finish line because of not really issues on the House side, more issues on the Senate side, to facilitate their ability to move legislation, some of the stuff ends up in one bill.”

The mood was tense in the Capitol Wednesday when GOP leaders started whipping the bill and Senate Democrats were unsure how many of their House counterparts would vote for the bill. But Pelosi and Boehner have been in close contact. On Wednesday morning when they spoke, Boehner demurred when Pelosi asked how many Democratic votes he needed. That responsibility falls to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Boehner answered. Boehner warned Pelosi that if the large bill failed, he would have a short-term funding bill ready for immediate consideration.

If Republican defections swell, Scalise could catch blame, but if the GOP posts better-than-expected numbers, he’ll start off the 114th Congress with a stronger hand.

Pelosi is trying to regain her own strong hand, which has been weakened dramatically by her party’s disastrous showing on Election Day. She was involved in the negotiations, but objected to many of the last-minute additions to the package - and is using the situation to boost her sway with disaffected Democrats. Pelosi believes she can get Republicans to change the bill, but GOP leadership staff has repeatedly made clear that they will not change the omnibus.

Republicans have one victory in this lame duck: they cleared a renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act by a huge margin. The GOP leadership had hoped to include this legislation in the omnibus, but House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) insisted the TRIA extension include unrelated changes to the Dodd-Frank financial services law. Democrats protested, but the bill passed with 417 votes.

And aren't Democrats the ones who place the blame on Republicans for last years shutdown, yet here's two prominent  Democrats advocating for another shutdown?

Quote from: IcyWind on December 11, 2014, 10:59:46 AM

Quote from: KletzenbrotEssen on December 11, 2014, 10:54:28 AM

And aren't Democrats the ones who place the blame on Republicans for last years shutdown, yet here's two prominent  Democrats advocating for another shutdown?

There is a difference between...

A.) Shutting down the government over unnecessary additions to the bill (Including gutting campaign finance rules ahead of fundraising for the 2016 election), and cutting down on student loans.
B.) Shutting down the government because you didn't get the judicial ruling you wanted.

Something running at 85% isn't "shutdown." Also, unjust legislation SHOULD lead to a corrupted incompetent entity being shutdown.

Quote from: IcyWind on December 11, 2014, 10:59:46 AM

Quote from: KletzenbrotEssen on December 11, 2014, 10:54:28 AM

And aren't Democrats the ones who place the blame on Republicans for last years shutdown, yet here's two prominent  Democrats advocating for another shutdown?

There is a difference between...

A.) Shutting down the government over unnecessary additions to the bill (Including gutting campaign finance rules ahead of fundraising for the 2016 election), and cutting down on student loans.
B.) Shutting down the government because you didn't get the judicial ruling you wanted.

Government shouldn't regulate how much money a person wants to donate

we can address student loans later, but we can't address the government being shutdown later

Quote from: IcyWind on December 11, 2014, 11:09:51 AM

And I'm not even going to get into the debate of the Obamacare Shutdown of 2013, because dozens of us have told you why you were wrong on that issue.

Something tells me that is far from the truth.

a degree is the same