Senate Democrats end coal protest to avert government shutdown
WASHINGTON — With little time to spare before the government was set to run out of money, Democratic Senators agreed Friday night not to block a stop-gap funding bill Friday to keep the government open through April 28.
Federal agencies would have run out of money at midnight Friday if the Senate had been unable to move the spending bill.
House members quickly left town Thursday after their 326-96 vote in favor of the legislation, and there were few options left for the Senate to change it.
However, Senate leaders' efforts to quickly pass the legislation after the House vote were thwarted by Democratic senators from coal-mining states, who objected to a provision that extends only through April a health care program for retired miners that was set to expire on Dec. 31.
Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and others said the health care program should be extended at least one year to give retired miners and their family more certainty and keep the government's promise to care for them under the United Mine Workers Association 1983 Benefit Plan.
"We made commitments to them," Manchin said. "We've been working and fighting and really clawing for this ...I guess we're supposed to be happy with (a four-month extension). But we're not. I'm sorry, we're not."
Brown said it's difficult for miners and their families to make doctors' appointments when they don't know for sure how long their benefits will last.
"It's just cruel and unusual punishment," Brown said, vowing to continue the fight next year. The coal-state Democrats are from Republican-leaning states where working-class families voted in large numbers for Republicans in the last election.
Manchin said he was encouraged by promises from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to work with his fellow coal-state senators next year to extend the miners' benefits beyond April. But Manchin said he doesn't trust House leaders to support those efforts.
Under Senate rules, individual senators have the power to delay action on the Senate floor by refusing to agree to a fast-tracked vote. However, the Democratic senators dropped their demands Friday night when it became clear that Senate leaders were not going to change the bill.
"We're not going to shut down the government," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who will serve as minority leader in the new Congress. "We've made our point."
McConnell said it would have made no sense to force a government shutdown over the issue when the bill prevents miners from losing their benefits at the end of this year.
"This is a good time to take 'yes' for an answer," McConnell said as he urged senators to pass the spending package. "We should pass the (government funding bill) without delay. Because if we don't pass (it), the health benefits will go away at the end of this month."
In addition to providing $45 million to extend the miners' benefits through April, the bill provides about $170 million to help clean up Flint's lead-contaminated drinking water system, which has poisoned the city's children.
The legislation contains $4.1 billion in flood relief for Louisiana, West Virginia and Texas and for states damaged by Hurricane Matthew, including North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.
The bill also includes initial funding for the newly passed 21st Century Cures Act, including $500 million for states to combat addiction to painkillers.
The overall spending level for defense programs is $8 billion above the rate in the bill that was set to expire at midnight, said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
However, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it's misleading for lawmakers to tout that as an increase since it's actually $6 billion less than the amount Congress authorized in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said U.S. troops are still being short-changed as they try to battle the Islamic State and other terrorist groups.
"So this is Washington," McCain said bitterly. "Democrats filibuster funding for our troops in a political game to extort more funding for pet domestic programs. Republicans feign outrage. Then those same Republicans return months later to negotiate a continuing resolution that gives Democrats the domestic spending increases they always wanted, does so by… cutting funds for defense…What a sham. What a fraud. And is there any wonder why the American people hold us in such contempt?"
House votes to fund government through April, boost defense spending