House conservatives are angry that Speaker John Boehner is ignoring their concerns by rushing a $1 trillion spending bill through Congress during its last week in session for the year.
"I think the fix is in," Rep. Matt Salmon told
The Hill.
The Arizona Republican said he wanted Boehner and House leaders to introduce the spending bill this week, including language that would block funding for President Barack Obama's immigration orders.
The federal government runs out of money on Thursday, and could shut down the following day. A 16-day partial shutdown in October 2013 cost taxpayers $1.4 billion.
Bringing the bill to a vote this week would also have allowed the House to respond to any changes the Senate might make to the legislation, Salmon told the Hill.
"I’ve implored them. I’ve begged them," he said. "I’ve spoken in various meetings so that we wouldn’t be up against some crisis.
"This is not the way it’s supposed to be done," Salmon said.
Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp told the Hill: "Here we are doing the appropriations bill the last couple days" before a possible shutdown. "That’s not to squeeze Harry Reid. That’s to squeeze us."
Rep. Hal Rogers, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the bill would be announced on Monday.
It is expected to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, on Sept. 30, but keep the Department of Homeland Security financed only through February.
That would allow Congress to address the agency's funding early next year, when Republicans control both chambers, the Hill reports. Homeland Security oversees immigration.
The GOP-controlled
House voted Thursday to reject the executive orders that Obama announced last month that would delay deportations and grant work permits to millions of illegal immigrants.
If the budget plan comes forth on Monday, that could set up a vote as early as Wednesday, the Hill reports. But the timing gives conservatives very little opportunity to study the bill or develop ways to attack it.
"They don’t want you to read it, that’s why!" North Carolina GOP Rep. Walter Jones told the Hill. "You think they want you to analyze all the mischievous items in there?"
When asked if Boehner's timetable sought to put House or Senate conservatives in a bind, he replied: "I think it's aimed at screwing over the American people. You can quote me on that."
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