Senate to Vote Monday on $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill After Holding Rare Saturday Session to Settle Immigration Debate
The U.S. Senate has postponed a vote until Monday to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill needed to avert a looming federal government shutdown. However, the Senate will still be in session this weekend and plans to meet during a rare Saturday afternoon session.
Although Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid tried to send the Senate home for the weekend and reconvene on Monday, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee created a procedural roadblock, insisting that the majority leader allow a vote on an amendment to the bill that would deter funding from President Obama's executive order to stop almost 5 million undocumented immigrants from being deported. The Senate GOP leaders also pledged to fight Obama's immigration plan in 2015, after their party gains control of the upper chamber.
As result of Lee and Cruz's motion to vote on a measure to defund Obama's executive action on immigration, Reid announced that the Senate will stay in session over the weekend.
"I think it is critical that the Senate have the opportunity to have a clear up or down vote on funding President Obama's illegal executive amnesty," Cruz said on Friday, according to MSNBC. "And I am using every tool available to help bring about that vote."
The 1,603-page spending bill passed in the House on Thursday in a 219-206 vote, reports Yahoo! News. The House also passed a another stopgap measure on Friday to give the Senate additional time to discuss and vote on the spending bill, which has created a divide in both political parties.
Minority leader Nancy Pelosi and liberal Democrats openly criticized President Obama for lobbying his party to vote yes on the bill, while conservative Republicans expressed disappointment at House Leader John Boehner for agreeing to pass the spending bill.
Democratic senators have taken a strong stance against the bill's provision to relax a "Dodd-Frank" bank regulation law requirement and a provision to allow bigger political donations.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, voiced outraged against the measure to ease bank regulations during a Senate floor speech on Friday, where she singled out Citigroup's "influence" on the U.S. political process.
"Let me say this to anyone who is listening at Citi: I agree with you. Dodd-Frank isn't perfect. It should have broken you into pieces."
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