Bill passed to avoid USA govt shutdown

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy answers questions on Friday about negotiations to finalize a $1.1 trillion spending bill and a sprawling tax package..

The U.S. Congress is nowhere near reaching a deal on government funding, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday, as Republicans who control both chambers struggled to meet conservative demands and show they can avoid agency shutdowns. They are pushing to lift a 40-year-old ban on oil exports, roll back some of the Obama administration’s environmental and financial regulations, and halt the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq while the administration overhauls the refugee-vetting process.

“I believe we’re making good progress on a final-year package”, said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “Not everybody gets what you want when you negotiate in divided government”, Ryan told journalists, a nod toward the tough bargaining so far between President Barack Obama and the GOP-controlled Congress. “But I think we will complete this”. The Senate agreed by voice vote and without debate Thursday to extend that deadline through Wednesday Dec. 16 to allow more time for talks.

Republicans countered that Democrats were just as much to blame for disputes that stalled the 12 annual spending bills that fund government and resulted in them being mashed together into a giant trillion-dollar-plus “omnibus” spending bill. The Senate approved the bill a day earlier, its easy sojourn through Congress underscoring that neither party saw reason to risk a government shutdown battle. The House of Representatives was expected to pass the stopgap bill on Friday. Democrats have been demanding the elimination of a prohibition on federal financing for medical research into gun violence. “Don’t expect us to vote for a bill that has a ban in it. Take the ban out”.