Washington (CNN) -- Negotiators on House and Senate spending panels agreed to $1.1 trillion government funding bill, they announced Tuesday, just two days before federal agencies are due to run out of money.
As part of the spending
bill Democrats and Republicans have also agreed to attach policy
provisions on a range of issues -- including measures to roll back
environmental regulations, rules for possession of marijuana in the
District of Columbia, and changes to financial regulations for banks.
"This bill fulfills our
constitutional duty to fund the government, preventing damage from
shutdown politics that are bad for the economy, cost jobs and hurt
middle class families," said Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat,
and Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers, a Republican, in a joint statement.
"While not everyone got everything they wanted, such compromises must be
made in a divided government. These are the tough choices that we must
make to govern responsibly and do what the American people sent us here
to do."
The spending measure,
which would fund most of the government for a full fiscal year was
expected to be released at the beginning of the week. But on Tuesday
evening, lawmakers continued to haggle over everything from immigration
to terrorism risk insurance. The squabbling increased the chances that
Congress will have to approve a short-term bill on Thursday to keep the
government open for just a few days and give lawmakers a little more
time to finalize a deal.
But the last-minute agreement avoids that outcome, and likely means the government will remain open for business as usual.
Senate Democratic Leader
Harry Reid told reporters on Tuesday, "We're ready to pass a yearlong
spending bill to take care of this. We've been trying to work with
Republican leaders to avoid a shutdown. There is going to come a time
when they are going to have to take 'yes' for an answer. I guess they
are not there yet."
A House vote on the
spending bill now is expected hours before the deadline on Thursday
night, which would give the Democratic-led Senate little time to debate
and vote on the legislation before government operations would be
interrupted by a funding gap.
The House Appropriations
committee unveiled their legislation late Tuesday night, which funds
virtually all of the government for a full fiscal year. But in response
to the President Barack Obama's action on immigration, it only provides
resources for the Department of Homeland Security through the end of
February.
Even that doesn't go far
enough for some conservatives who want to use the annual spending bill
to strip funding for the implementation of the executive orders. They
insist that exercising Congress' power of the purse was the best tool to
use now, instead of waiting to wage the fight until next year.
"I think it's a punt,"
Arizona GOP Rep. Matt Salmon told reporters about the current House
spending proposal. He predicted as many as 50 House Republicans would
oppose the legislation, but said in the end, those defections wouldn't
block the bill because enough Democrats would back it to avoid a
shutdown.
Reid and other Senate
Democrats have already said they would accept the hybrid bill so long as
it didn't contain poison pill policy riders. Reid's comments Tuesday
reflect that he is concerned some of those riders remain in the bill.
House Speaker John
Boehner and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell have been urging
Republicans to postpone their effort to roll back the President's
executive actions until next year when they control both the House and
the Senate. GOP leaders have repeatedly told members they don't want to
risk a repeat of last fall's government shutdown, which most voters
blamed on the GOP.
The House passed a bill
last week designed to stop the President's executive order, but that
measure was seen as largely symbolic -- even from its supporters --
because the Democratic-led Senate refused to hold a vote on it and the
Obama administration threatened to veto it. While GOP leaders argue it's
better to wait until next year when they have control of both chambers
of Congress, there is no plan in place for what Republicans will
actually do in 2015.
Flores said he was still
waiting to read the spending bill, but he agreed with the concept of
separating the immigration fight from the spending bill. He said for
now, the Democratic-led Senate limits the options in the face of a
shutdown and "hopefully in January we're going to have a bigger tool
box" to force the Administration to revise its policies on immigration.
Last minute discussions
about unrelated legislation held up the funding bill's introduction,
including whether to add an unrelated terrorism risk insurance measure
to the measure. Discussions over that issue led to a fight over
financial regulations -- a sign the debate over the spending bill had
drifted off its initial course.
House Democratic leaders
won't say how they will vote on the measure, but the number two
Democratic leader told reporters on Tuesday that Republicans will find
it easier to attract support if they leave out controversial policy
provisions.
"The cleaner this bill is the more likely it is of its passage," said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
