Little time, lots of action in year-end struggle - EPA, DOE riders complicate ...
A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER – Energy issues are taking center stage as the White House and Congress prepare for year-end struggles over the president’s push for a payroll tax cut and another attempt at a long-term budget compromise.
THE BUDGET BATTLE: Republicans in Congress are prepping for a staring contest with the White House next week over energy and environmental riders to their spending and payroll tax extension bills.
While appropriators push for a $1 trillion-plus omnibus package to deal with the remaining nine of 12 spending bills that will set funding levels through September, they also have to find a way around several controversial riders — including provisions aimed at beating back EPA’s boiler MACT — and other last-minute legislative ornaments to the mega-bill. Dixon and Samuelsohn have the story for Pros: http://politico.pro/uq7jiR .
THE CLOCK IS TICKING: The appropriators must reach a deal by Friday for the House to have enough time to vote on the omnibus before the stopgap spending measure funding the federal government expires on Dec. 16.