A House vote is expected Thursday on a huge $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill that would fund every corner of the federal government.
Democrats have erupted over a provision that weakens the regulation of risky financial instruments and another that allows more money to flood into political parties. At the same time, conservatives are unhappy that the bill fails to challenge President Barack Obama's immigration policy.
“While I can point out a lot of things on this that I don’t particularly like, or that I know other members will have objections to, I usually ask them, ‘Well, what’s your alternative?’,” U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla. 4) said Wednesday during a House Rules Committee hearing. “And it’s almost never realistic.”
If the bill fails, one alternative is to keep the government running on autopilot until Republicans seize full control of Congress next year, or shut it down entirely.
"I don’t know anybody here that wants a government shutdown,” Cole said. “We all think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a bad thing. I was opposed to it when it happened over a year ago. It’s pretty easy to say no around here, pretty easy to thump your chest. We need to get some things done. This bill gets a lot of good things done for the American people.”
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