Democrats Upset Over Spending Bill Keep Vote Close to the Wire

The bill to keep the government open is in trouble hours from a midnight shutdown-inducing deadline.

The House passed by two votes a measure to clear a legislative hurdle, as House Republican whips twisted the arms of retiring members to change their minds.

Liberals and conservatives oppose the $1.1 trillion government-funding bill. Conservatives oppose the bill for not defunding President Barack Obama’s executive action temporarily deferring deportations for up to five million immigrants who came to the country illegally. Appropriators have tried to convince them that that strategy doesn’t make any sense, as the primary government program involved is funded primarily through fees instead of the appropriations process.

Progressives like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi oppose it over two provisions that would greatly increase the caps donors can make to political parties and another that would provide government backing to some derivative trading, including risky credit default swaps. Both members are in a full furor; Warren has repeatedly hit the Senate floor to warn of another taxpayer bailout of huge banks in a future recession.

New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, took to the floor Thursday to rip the campaign finance change, charging that the provision is “excessive” and will increase by “ten-fold” the limits on contributions to political parties. She lay the blame at both Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Boehner.

Some House Republicans believe that Democrats are simply blowing off steam before they quietly vote for the bill TODAY and leave for the holiday. Others aren’t sure—indeed the House GOP leadership had to delay the final vote Thursday afternoon to give more time to find enough votes—but agree that the Democrats’ opposition proved an discomforting finale to a deeply unpopular 113th Congress.

“I may have been born at night but it wasn’t last night and this was an opportunity for them to put a real dagger in the side of the governing majority,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Steve Womack. “I think the swaps issue was more of a smokescreen for a larger issue and that was more of a political issue and a statement. It almost happened. It’s kind of an embarrassing moment.”

Womack, who sits on the Appropriations Committee and on a financial services panel, said he didn’t know who inserted the provision to change the major finance reform law Dodd-Frank. The lack of knowledge about certain aspects of the 1,600 bill is widespread among Congressmen; North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows said he voted to advance the bill but was still undecided on how he would vote when push came to shove.

“We’re still reading through it,” he said.