Members of both parties were optimistic that the threat of a snowstorm could persuade critics to relent on their opposition to a vote as soon as Wednesday.Members of both parties were optimistic that the threat of a snowstorm could persuade critics to relent on their opposition to a vote as soon as Wednesday.
What do GOP fiscal hawks hate more, a mammoth spending bill or the threat of canceling their holiday flights because of a massive storm? The Senate might soon find out.
Congress is hustling to pass a $1.7 trillion year-end spending package before leaving Washington for the year, with government funding set to run out Friday. The Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on Tuesday after the sprawling bill’s text was released in the pre-dawn hours — but to meet its end-of-week deadline, much less finish work days early, the chamber will need buy-in from all 100 senators.
That includes a passel of conservatives, including one senator who has slammed the fast-paced spending debate as “legislative barbarism” and “extortion.” Republican leaders are hoping the proverbial scent of jet fumes calling senators home, combined with the threat of a snowstorm that will blanket half the country, will help deliver a holiday miracle: final passage of the bill as soon as Wednesday.
A Wednesday vote in the Senate would align with the House’s plan to return that evening to start pushing the so-called omnibus across the finish line. And some senior aides think that whenever the spending package does make it to the House, the chamber could pull a late-night session, sending members home as quickly as possible to avoid the wintry weather.
“I think the storm may put a little bit of extra encouragement to try to expedite things,” Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also cited the impending snowstorm on the floor as he urged the chamber to pass the package “much sooner” than Friday: “I hope no senator stands in the way of us finishing our work.”
Yet if they are going to make the end-of-the-week deadline, Democrats are likely to have to cut a deal with a handful of conservative senators who are holding a rolling, public Festivus to roast the spending bill.
