Congress Oks short-term spending bill hours before deadline

Responding to Trump’s comments, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) emphasized Tuesday that there was no “religious test” in the House proposals because “freedom of religion is a fundamental constitutional principle”.

The measure was approved by voice vote Friday hours ahead of a midnight deadline. Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., took to the House floor on Tuesday to call for Trump to drop out of the race: “We must always insist on a security test. But we must never require a religious test”, he said.

Avoiding the high drama of recent year-end budget fights, President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday keeping government agencies open into next week, giving White House and congressional bargainers more time to complete sweeping deals on taxes and federal spending. The House passed a bill last month that aims to toughen standards for admitting Syrian and Iraqi refugees, but the Senate has not taken up the bill.

Islamic terrorists have pledged to kill more Americans – and our current refugee program has vulnerabilities that invite ISIS sympathizers to exploit these loopholes to enter the U.S. With the support of 74 of my colleagues, we’ve made it clear that a provision needs to be included in the upcoming spending bill that would defund and suspend Obama’s insane Syrian refugee plan.

-BUSINESSES: Republicans and some Democrats would like to permanently renew expiring tax breaks for business costs for research and development, and purchasing equipment. Lawmakers are also working on how to address a pile of lapsed and expiring tax breaks. “I’m not going to negotiate through the media”.

House Republican leaders, meanwhile, are saying that there might need to be another short-term spending bill in effect for a few days in order to finally get a package worked out that will garner the votes needed for final passage.

“I don’t know that everybody is that relaxed, but I think most people have determined that there is not much they can do about these final negotiations”, he said.

Ryan said that “deadlines come and go” and missing Friday’s target is acceptable if it means getting the best deal possible. He said sticking points relate to labor and environmental issues, and to a campaign finance provision pushed by his Republican counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to lift certain spending limits by party committees.

Even while Congress pushed off the threat of a government shutdown to next week, lawmakers and aides weren’t certain they would be able to meet their latest deadline.

Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said the measure was too arbitrary and should make exceptions for aid workers and dual nationals in those countries.

The GOP also wants to end the decades-old ban on USA oil exports.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is also demanding that the spending bill reverse a long-standing ban on certain gun-related research in the spending bill.

Talks on a more ambitious tax measure permanently extending some of the tax breaks have stalled.

The tangle is less about dollars and more about policy… The overall $1.1 trillion spending total was previously cemented in place, leaving only spending details to finalize, and Republicans chose to avoid shutdown brinkmanship with Obama by omitting provisions dismantling his 2010 health care law and halting Planned Parenthood’s money.