Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is threatening to hold up a short-term funding package that needs to pass by the end of the day Friday to avoid a government shutdown unless leaders in Congress agree to vote on amedments to offset the cost of new spending in the proposal.
Paul has significant leverage to force colleagues to vote on spending cuts because congressional leaders are late in unveiling the continuing resolution, which is expected to fund the government until March 14.
The House may not even vote on the package until Wednesday or Thursday, which means Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will need the cooperation of all 99 other senators to get it through the Senate by the end-of-week deadline.
But Paul says he won’t yield back time on the floor unless Schumer guarantees fiscal hawks a full debate and opportunity to vote on amendments to offset the cost of new spending in the proposal.
“I can’t anticipate giving any time of consent to condense time without debate and debate means amendments. We’ll probably put forward some pay-fors,” Paul told The Hill, flagging green-energy subsidies as spending that could be cut to offset the cost of disaster relief for North Carolina and other states hit hard by recent hurricanes.
“There are some big existing pay fors and I think they should be forced to decide: Do you want to help the people in Asheville or do you want to want to help green-energy companies, multi-million-dollar companies with subsidies for green energy. There’s about $4 billion out there in that,” he said.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday warned that weekend work for the Senate was becoming a real possibility given the delays with the funding measure.
Conservatives in both chambers are furious they still haven’t seen the details of the continuing resolution, which will extend government funding as well as provide new funding for disaster relief, payments to farmers and other programs that have vocal constituencies.
“I don’t know what all kinds of schemes they’re hatching here,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “I did hear a word of scuttlebutt that the House Republicans aren’t real happy with what the supposed final deal was.”
Johnson urged Democratic and Republican leaders to extend government funding to avoid a shutdown without adding all types of new spending to the proposals.
“Do it clean, just clean,” he implored.
