An impasse over the fiscal year 2018 spending has forced senators to plan for a possible weekend session.
“I’m expecting to be here on Saturday,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told the Washington Examiner.
Lawmakers are running out of time to pass a spending bill by the Friday deadline, when current funding authorization expires. The bill is currently stalled in the House due to disagreements over so-called riders, which are provisions that are tacked on to big spending packages.
House lawmakers said they hope to vote on a measure by Thursday afternoon, leaving the Senate about a day and a half to pass it in the upper chamber.
But that timeline could slip, since individual senators can slow a bill down by a couple of days, and many Republicans expect Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to stall the legislation. Paul is likely to oppose the increase in federal spending, which exceeds spending caps on both military and domestic programs.
A spokesman for Paul said he is not commenting on the measure yet because he has not seen it. House lawmakers hope to release the text of the bill on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Paul addressed GOP lawmakers at a closed-door Senate lunch on Tuesday, but it’s not clear whether he said he would stall the package past the Friday deadline.
“He expressed himself very vociferously,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. But he declined to repeat Paul’s remarks.
Roberts said passage of the spending bill “might be late,” but did not signal whether a Saturday session would be needed. “As long as it takes,” he said.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said senators were told the House hopes to release the text of the bill tonight. But Rounds has warned his staff to prepare for a weekend session, even though many had expected the Senate to adjourn as early as Thursday for a two-week recess.
“I’ve told my crew that I would be surprised if we get it out on time,” Rounds said. “This is frustrating for us. We’ve known for 60 days this is coming.”
The House and Senate agreed in February to a two-year deal on spending caps, an accord that many hoped would facilitate easy passage of the fiscal 2018 spending package known as the omnibus.
The House and Senate need both Republican and Democratic votes to pass the legislation. The two parties are in talks to add various riders, including a fix to the GOP tax bill impacting grain cooperatives, a measure to bolster gun background checks and additional funding to shore up Obamacare subsidies.
The bill is under tight negotiations conducted by the four leaders of the House and Senate. One of them, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday the disagreements are nearly resolved.
“A few sticking points remain but we are very close on legislation both chambers will be able to take up at the end of the week,” Schumer said Tuesday.
McConnell said the Senate would finish the bill this week, adding, “as long as that takes, that’s the time we’ll put in to get there.”
