Harry Reid just unveiled a pork-laden $1.1 trillion and 2,000-page omnibus spending bill this afternoon, and Senator Jim DeMint (R, S.C.) has offered an audacious response: he’s going to force the Senate to actually read the bill before voting on it.
Fox News reports reading the bill would take nearly 40 hours, which means Reid couldn’t file for a cloture vote until Thursday, thereby setting up the cloture vote on Saturday morning. McConnell says the GOP should block the omnibus bill and opt for a continuing resolution–i.e. continuing current government funding levels. “We ought to pass a short-term C.R., probably until next February, go about the process in a way that the American people can understand, that’s fully transparent, and I hope … at the end of the day the Senate will decide to do,” McConnell said at a press conference today.
But The Hill reports that at least four GOP senators are thinking of voting for Reid’s omnibus bill:
“That’s my intention,” said retiring Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) when asked if he would support the package.
Bennett said earmarks in the bill might give some of his GOP colleagues reason to hesitate but wouldn’t affect his vote.
“It will be tough for some, but not for me,” he said.
GOP Sens. Kit Bond (Mo.), George Voinovich (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine) also told The Hill on Tuesday they would consider voting for the omnibus but want to review it before making a final decision.
And what happens if the Senate doesn’t pass the continuing resolution or the omnibus bill by midnight Saturday? The government shuts down.
Meanwhile, Reid is trying to rush the START arms deal with Russia through the Senate by bringing it to the floor this week while the Senate is considering the spending bill:
A confident Reid said he had enough votes, 67, to ratify the treaty before the end of the lame-duck session. However, Senate Republicans are trying to stall the debate on the nuclear arms treaty amid pressure from the White House to bring it to the floor by the end of this week.
Two Senate Republican leaders — Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee — said Tuesday that they still oppose bringing it to the floor before the end of the session. And even though advocates believe the treaty still has the votes needed to pass, if Republicans object to the procedure and timing of the debate, they could stall action.
Reid is threatening to hold the Senate in session past Christmas in order ram through START, a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and maybe even the DREAM immigration bill.
