Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he’s ready to strike a massive funding deal with Republicans that ends the ban on U.S. oil exports, so long as Democrats get something in return.
Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said there are two paths forward toward funding the government and averting a Christmastime shutdown: Republicans can either forge ahead with a $1.1 trillion “omnibus” package that funds agencies for one year and does not lift the export ban, or it can pair the exports provision with Democratic add-ons that move the country away from fossil fuels.
“We’ve made very clear to Republicans that if they want this oil-export ban, there must be included in this policies to reduce our carbon emissions and encourage use of renewable energy,” he said, putting pressure on the GOP to take it or leave it before funding runs out Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said he still expects negotiators to release the text of the catch-all funding bill on Tuesday, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan vowed there will not be a government shutdown.
The talks took longer than expected, as both sides grappled with GOP policy add-ons, or “riders,” that attacked President Obama’s environmental agenda and took aim at plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees, while Democrats demanded an end to the federal ban on research into the causes of gun violence.
Yet Mr. Reid said horse-trading over oil exports is the only thing that stands in the way of a final deal, as negotiators also rushed to complete a parallel effort to renew tax breaks known as “extenders.”
“At this pace we’re going to be here through Christmas. We need to get that done now,” Mr. Reid said.
Republicans leaders and the petroleum industry argue that the oil-export ban, established during energy shortages in 1970s, has outlived its usefulness and is holding the U.S. back even as it becomes the world’s leading oil and gas producer.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Mr. Obama does not want to end the exports ban, but he didn’t say the provision would prompt a presidential veto of the spending bill.
“I would anticipate that there will be some elements of the budget bill that are not consistent with the kinds of policies that we have long supported here,” he said. “But that’s the essence of compromise, and the president’s only going to support the budget agreement if he does believe that it is clearly in the best interests of the country and our economy.”
Though Congress is nearing a deal, lawmakers will have pass one more short-term extension to keep the lights on through the end of the week.
Congressional leaders said they will not waive a rule that gives House members at least part of three days to review a bill before voting. The Senate would then have to close off debate and approve the bill, too, before it reaches Mr. Obama’s desk.
Mr. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, expressed his frustration Tuesday with the closed-door scramble to hammer out the bills, saying it was “no way to run a railroad” and shouldn’t be repeated next year.
“We shouldn’t be doing things like this,” he said in an interview hosted by Politico.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.