...So, McConnell is trying to help Boner’s negotiating position by trying to take the spending bill off the table.
“There’s agreement on the funding bill, but no agreement and no plan at all about how we’re going to pass the payroll tax cut extension,” McConnell said during a tense, nearly 30-minute exchange with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “We ought to finish our most immediate concern first.”
Funding for many agencies and programs, ranging from foreign services to environmental initiatives, expires at midnight Friday, so time is running short before fears of a government shutdown again intensify.
Reid denied that congressional appropriators had reached complete agreement on the bill to keep agencies funded through next September and instead urged Congress to pass a short-term funding bill to keep the government running through next Wednesday. McConnell objected to the request.
“As soon as we put this useless partisan charade behind us, we can negotiate a solution that protects middle-class workers,” Reid said, referring to the House GOP payroll bill....
“There’s agreement on the funding bill, but no agreement and no plan at all about how we’re going to pass the payroll tax cut extension,” McConnell said during a tense, nearly 30-minute exchange with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “We ought to finish our most immediate concern first.”
Funding for many agencies and programs, ranging from foreign services to environmental initiatives, expires at midnight Friday, so time is running short before fears of a government shutdown again intensify.
Reid denied that congressional appropriators had reached complete agreement on the bill to keep agencies funded through next September and instead urged Congress to pass a short-term funding bill to keep the government running through next Wednesday. McConnell objected to the request.
“As soon as we put this useless partisan charade behind us, we can negotiate a solution that protects middle-class workers,” Reid said, referring to the House GOP payroll bill....
