Wheels Come Off the Omnibus

“Senators left the Capitol on Wednesday night without a critical deal allowing for votes on a $1.7 trillion government funding package, kicking the bill into Thursday and closer to a shutdown deadline,” Politico reports.

“Lawmakers are at a standstill over a proposed GOP amendment tied to a Trump-era border policy, which could force Democrats to take a politically tricky vote. It’s a U-turn from earlier in the day when leadership hoped the strong pull of leaving for the holidays would speed up passage of the mammoth bill on Wednesday, checking the final item off the Senate’s year-end to-do list before the chamber departs Washington until late January.”

“Though federal cash doesn’t expire until Friday at midnight, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has threatened to switch tracks and back a temporary funding patch into early next year if the upper chamber doesn’t clear the massive spending package by Thursday.”

Punchbowl News: “When many of you went to bed last night, the headlines indicated that the entire omnibus was falling apart because of a disagreement over Title 42 immigration policy. Yet if there’s one thing to know about these kinds of negotiations, it’s that the rhetoric often gets most inflammatory right before there’s a big breakthrough. Hopefully.”

Playbook: “Of course, if the omnibus gets tripped up, $47 billion in aid to Ukraine is among the priorities at risk — quite the split screen with Zelensky’s visit to Washington.”