WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the final days of the congressional session (all times local):
10:27 a.m.
The Senate’s top Republican is seeking to turn the tables on the coal-state Democrats standing in the way of swift passage of a stopgap spending bill over health benefits for retired miners.
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Friday the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress have waged a “war on coal” that has created economic hardships for miners.
The spending bill to keep the federal government operating through April is stalled in the Senate as Democrats facing re-election in 2018, including West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, are fighting for a one-year extension for the miners’ health benefits rather than the temporary, four-month fix in the bill.
Manchin has called the short fix “horrendous” and “inhumane.”
McConnell says the temporary extension is the best they’re going to get.
He says “this is a good time to take yes for answer.”