Faced with continued internal Republican battles, Congress will be forced to pass a continuing resolution at the end of next month to keep major parts of the federal government operating past the start of the new fiscal year, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Vic Fazio of California predicted today.
"I think we're in a position where a [CR] is inevitable," Fazio told reporters. Neither house has passed the always contentious Labor-HHS funding measure, and none of the 13 annual funding bills have gone to conference yet.
Fazio, an Appropriations Committee member, said conservative Republicans are finding it "irresistible" not to try to load controversial legislative provisions into the bills. He noted Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., tried to push GOP leaders into amending a rule on the Labor-HHS bill Thursday to allow conservatives to propose a massive amendment. And, he added, House Majority Whip DeLay and House Appropriations Chairman Livingston had clashed Thursday over provisions of the Treasury- Postal funding measure.
"We'll see if the Republican pragmatists or if the Republican revolutionaries win out," Fazio observed.
Fazio predicted that four or five funding measures will not be completed by the end of the year -- suggesting that the Labor-HHS and the Foreign Operations bills may be headed for a showdown, the Treasury bill is becoming "heavy" with extraneous issues and the Commerce-Justice-State bill may be bogged down over census issues. He said Democrats will not accept a full-year CR, but would only support one giving appropriators enough time to pass their bills.
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