Congress nears spending deal

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — Congress is a step closer to funding most of the government through September 2015 with a plan that sidesteps Tea Party opposition and pushes the fight over immigration policy to the new Republican Congress.   After yesterday’s symbolic House vote to protest President Barack Obama’s order easing deportation of undocumented immigrants, appropriations leaders in both parties will work today to complete a spending bill with votes expected next week. Democrats and Republicans said they’ll keep the government open after Dec. 11, when current funding expires.   House Speaker John Boehner devised the two-step strategy to keep Tea Party members from using the funding bill to vent their frustration over Obama’s executive orders. The real battle over immigration will come next year, when Republicans also control the Senate, Boehner of Ohio said yesterday.   “The House will work to keep the government open while keeping our leverage so that when we have reinforcements in the Senate, we’re in the strongest position to take additional actions to fight the president’s unilateral actions,” Boehner told reporters.   That strategy “gives us the best chance for success,” he said.   House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said he and Senate counterpart Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, plan today to “sign off on the final deal” to finance the government.   Disagreements remain over a series of unrelated policy measures that Republicans want to attach and Democrats oppose.   Homeland security

Under Boehner’s plan, the Department of Homeland Security, with primary responsibility for immigration policy, would be funded only into March 2015.

That sets up a clash early next year, when he and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will face more pressure from the expanded Republican majority to retaliate against Obama’s action.