cromnibus

Reid Calls Weekend Votes After GOP Rebellion

December 13, 2014 · 10:06 am ET · 15 Comments

“Conservatives late Friday stalled action on the Senate floor as leaders scrambled to wrap up the 113th Congress,” Roll Call reports.

“Senators will reconvene at noon Saturday for a series of up to 40 roll call votes after conservatives sought to force votes to block President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration before consenting to a final vote on the ‘cromnibus’ to fund the government. The collapse of a potential deal to set the votes on the spending bill for Monday came amid a longstanding feud about nominations, which will now take center stage on Saturday.”

The Hill: Ted Cruz at center of Senate meltdown

Who Actually Read the Bill?

December 11, 2014 · 11:39 am ET · 24 Comments

“As the House prepares to pass a trillion dollar, 1,603-page ‘cromnibus Thursday, at least one criticism can be applied to both Republicans and Democrats when the bill comes to a vote: few lawmakers — if any — will have read the entire thing,” Roll Call reports.

“It’s not that a $1.1 trillion piece of legislation can — or should — be written in 140 characters like a tweet, or as a 4,543-word document, such as the Constitution. But the cromnibus, coming in at 289,861 words, represents a particularly challenging public relations moment for members of Congress. It’s precisely the style of legislating that Speaker John A. Boehner ran against when he campaigned for the leadership job, vowing to give members at least 72 hours to read any measure before a vote. And it’s the manifestation of the proverbial backroom deals that have angered so many voters for so long.”

Boehner Says He’ll Need Democrats to Pass Funding Bill

December 4, 2014 · 3:16 pm ET · 37 Comments

“As conservatives push back against a bill to fund the government past Dec. 11, Speaker John A. Boehner signaled Thursday that he didn’t expect to make any sizable changes to the so-called ‘cromnibus‘ in order to placate voices to the right,” Roll Call reports.

Said Boehner: “I expect that we’ll have bipartisan support to pass the omnibus.”

“Conservatives are bashing the cromnibus — which would fund all elements of government until October except the Department of Homeland Security, which would be funded until March or February — because it does not block President Obama’s executive action on immigration.”

October Surprise!