Negotiations surrounding the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package have stalled in the Senate
- Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Title 42 amendment has put a wrench in the process, leading some senators to reportedly discuss a short-term funding bill instead.
- Title 42 is an immigration policy that makes it easier for the federal government to send border crossers back to their native countries
- Despite Democrat Senate Leader Chuck Schumer's hopes to bring a vote on the omnibus bill to the Senate floor on Wednesday, Lee's title 42 amendment is "causing big problems"
- Senate Democrats want the vote to reach a 60-vote threshold before it can be included in the bill, but Senate Republicans want it to pass with a simple 51-vote majority vote.
- One Senate Democrat aide reportedly called Lee's amendment a "poison pill" that would "kill the bill in the House."
Schumer warned that if no agreement could be reached, he would file cloture on the omnibus spending package, which would set up a vote for Friday, December 23, pushing the government funding process into next week.
- However, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has been adamant about negotiations reaching a deal before Thursday, December 22, because he intends "to be on the road going home" on December 23.
There's Growing Talk of a CR Until February
- If Congress passes a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government until February, it would give Republicans a huge victory in the government funding negotiations as they will regain control of the House majority at the start of the next Congress in January.
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