GOP hoping for weekend breakthrough on spending bill

By Susan Ferrechio, Susan Ferrechio

Published December 20, 2015

Republican leaders say they're hopeful a $1.1 trillion spending bill can be introduced as early as Monday and passed a few days later, but many major differences must be resolved over the weekend, including a policy rider that would make it difficult for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to resettle in the United States.

"We are making progress," Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., told the Washington Examiner in an interview Friday. "There's a lot of work ahead of us still, for the weekend. My goal is a Monday filing."

Complicating matters, the Republican leadership is considering a plan that would tie the spending bill to another major measure that would extend dozens of popular tax cuts.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the tax cut bill is too massive for Democrats to support. Linking the two together could sink the entire deal, she suggested Friday.