Thursday, October 3, 2013
House passes bills to fund DC, parks and medical research
The House approved three targeted spending resolutions to the Senate on Wednesday, daring Senate Democrats to vote against measures to immediately fund the District of Columbia, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Park Service.
The bills are part of the House Republican plan to pass spending bills in areas where there is bipartisan agreement in order to spare some pieces of the government from the shutdown.
But while Democrats support these priorities, they mostly opposed attempts to pass them in the House. Democrats said Republicans were using the bills as part of a political strategy to mitigate the effects of the shutdown when they should instead pass a Senate spending resolution that funds the entire government.
“The majority is making itself clear,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). “Any time they see a bad headline, they’re going to bring a bill to the floor to make it go away.”
But Republicans pointed to a few other headlines that were playing badly for Democrats on Wednesday.
Before passing a bill to keep national parks and monuments open, Republicans blasted the Obama administration for erecting barricades around the World War II memorial this week, which kept out visiting veterans groups.
“Barricades were put up around the World War II memorial,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). “Again, a memorial accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“We should not be using our national parks… as hostages for the Democratic ‘my way or the highway’ shutdown.”
Full article: http://thehill.com/b … -bills-to-the-senate
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