Senate Republicans are looking at going their own way on government funding, as House Republicans try to move a stopgap spending bill this week to fund the government until after the midterm elections.
GOP lawmakers in the Senate have had conversations with Democrats on moving a stopgap spending bill while also talking with the White House about anomalies, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, said she has had conversations with Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) about a Senate version of a stopgap spending bill along with potential “anomalies,” which are specific exceptions or exemptions to the flat funding of a continuing resolution usually noted to prevent disruptions to key services.
Murray wants to see if the House can get their legislation across the floor.
“Let’s see what happens in the House,” she said in an interview Monday.
Murray warned that chamber’s measure likely won’t have her support if it makes it through the House and over to the Senate.
“I understand there’s some real flaws with it. I am happy to look at a bipartisan CR, but I understand there’s some real problems on the House side,” she said.
GOP appropriators in the House say they are moving the lengthy stopgap spending package specifically because they have doubts that the stalled appropriations process in the Senate will yield government funding bills.
“Unfortunately, current circumstances in the Senate make clear that Congress, as a whole, is unlikely to complete the full appropriations process by the start of the fiscal year,” Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told the House Rules Committee on Monday.
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