GOP leaders broke their own rules and sped a vote on the $1.3 trillion spending bill Thursday because they wanted to hide all the wins Democrats managed to score, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said.
She and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer took a victory lap after the House passed the bill and before a looming Senate vote.
They said that even without control of any of the branches of government, they managed to stop Republicans’ ideological policy riders and secured massive funding hikes for their own priorities.
They also kept funding going to sanctuary cities, while blocking President Trump’s requests for hundreds of deportation officers and thousands of new detention beds. In fact, the bill will force Homeland Security to cut the number of beds from its current level.
“It’s a funny thing,” Mr. Schumer said. “We’re able to accomplish more in the minority than we were when we had the presidency or even were in the majority.”
Mrs. Pelosi said the GOP realized it lost on many of Mr. Trump’s asks, so they blasted the bill through the House just 16 hours after it was released, and before anyone had a chance to read it.
“They didn’t want their Republican colleagues to see exactly what was in that bill,” Mrs. Pelosi said.
GOP leaders, when they took control of the chamber after the 2010 elections, promised to wait three days before voting on bills. But
She also said Republicans are rushing to get out of town before a pro-gun control march is slated to take over the streets around the Capitol on Saturday.
Support for the bill was about evenly split. Among House Republicans, the vote was 145 in support and 90 opposed. Among Democrats it was 111 supporters versus 77 opponents.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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