Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye urged lawmakers “to continue in the current bipartisan spirit” Tuesday after the Senate approved a package of three spending bills.
"They're going to have to work with us to get these appropriations bills passed because 24 Republicans voted against the CR in September," the Democratic aide said. "If they lose that many votes, can they still pass their bills? Or are they going to have to come to us for votes? If they do, we've made it clear: No controversial policy riders."
Partisan rancor had been growing in the House and Senate Appropriations committees in recent years and came to a head this year after Republicans won control of the House following the 2010 election.
Buoyed by the victory, Republicans sought to make good on campaign promises to cut spending and reduce the deficit, which — with the Senate still under Democratic control — made agreeing to appropriations extremely difficult.
Congress needed to pass seven short-term funding measures in order to keep the government operating past the Sept. 30, 2010, end of fiscal 2011 while a deal was negotiated by President Barack Obama, Boehner and Reid.
A final deal was ultimately struck in mid-April, but the string of partisan sparring delayed work on the fiscal 2012 spending process. Fiscal 2012 began Oct. 1.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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