House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. leaves a Republican caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington in this January file photo.WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats are preparing a catchall government funding bill that denies President Barack Obama money for implementing signature first-term accomplishments like new regulations on Wall Street and his expansion of government health care subsidies but gives Democrats modest additional funding for domestic priorities like health research.
The measure expected to be released Monday is the product of bipartisan negotiations and is the legislative vehicle to fund the day-to-day operations of government through Sept. 30 – and prevent a government shutdown when current funding runs out March 27.
Passage in the Senate this week would presage an end to a mostly overlooked battle between House Republicans and Obama and his Senate Democratic allies over the annual spending bills required to fund federal agency operations.
The bipartisan measure comes as Washington girds for weeks of warfare over the budget for next year and beyond as both House and Senate Budget Committees this week take up blueprints for the upcoming 2014 budget year.
The first salvo in that battle is coming from House Republicans poised to release on Tuesday a now-familiar budget featuring gestures to block “Obamacare,” turn Medicare into a voucher-like program for future retirees and sharply curb Medicaid and domestic agency budgets. Such ideas are dead on arrival with Obama and Democrats controlling the Senate, but will – in concert with new taxes on the wealthy enacted in January – allow Republicans to propose a budget that would come to balance within 10 years.