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The Hill
Conservatives
complain House GOP leaders ramming through spending bill
By Scott Wong
12/06/14
House conservatives are griping that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is
putting the squeeze on them by rushing through a $1 trillion spending
bill in Congress’s last week in session.
Appropriators are expected to roll out the legislation early next week,
giving critics scant time to figure out what’s inside before they cast
their votes by the end of the week. The government would shut down on
Dec. 12 without a new funding bill.
“Here we are doing the appropriations bill the last couple days” before
a government shutdown, conservative Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said
in an interview this week. “That’s not to squeeze Harry Reid. That’s to
squeeze us.”
Boehner critics say there’s no reason the Speaker couldn’t have brought
the spending package to the floor this past week, giving the House more
time to consider it.
But doing so would also give more time for the right to build a case
against it.
“They don’t want you to read it, that’s why! You think they want you to
analyze all the mischievous items in there?” Rep. Walter Jones
(R-N.C.) told The Hill.
Asked if the timing of the plan was aimed at jamming the Senate or
House conservatives, Jones replied: “I think its aimed at screwing over
the American people. You can quote me on that.”
Pushing a government funding bill through Congress at the 11th hour is
nothing new.
What’s striking this time, however, is that Boehner and outgoing Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are mostly in agreement on how to
do it.
And the Speaker, fresh off a big midterm victory, seems in no mood to
kowtow to conservatives who’ve been agitating for a lame-duck spending
fight to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the legislation
will be unveiled on Monday, setting up a likely House vote on Wednesday
— just one day before money runs out for the government.
Boehner and Rogers blame the Senate for the bill’s timing...
Read the rest of the article at The Hill
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