The House of Representatives last night passed an appropriations bill (omnibus H.R. 83) on a vote of 219-206, with 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats voting for the bill, and 67 Republicans and 139 Democrats voting against it. After a divisive debate, The narrowly-passed $1.1 trillion spending package will fund government operations for fiscal year 2015.
The split within the Democratic Party became public when Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the minority leader and one of President Obama’s most loyal supporters, broke with the administration over a provision in the bill that would roll back regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act. Pelosi said the provision was a giveaway to big banks whose practices helped trigger the recession. She spoke on the House floor in the early afternoon, asking Democrats not to vote for the bill.
However, during the day Thursday, President Obama and Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) lobbied their respective constituents seeking support for the bill. With only two hours left before a government shutdown, the House passed a short-term, two-day continuing resolution, which averted a shutdown and will give the Senate time to debate and pass the measure.
The Senate begins debate on H.R. 83 today. “There are no perfect bills,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said on the Senate floor minutes after the House passed the bill. “But this bill is so much better than a three-month measure that would risk another shutdown fight in early 2015,” he said.
