Pelosi to Boehner: Work With Us to Pass Gov't Funding Measure

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she is encouraging House Speaker John Boehner to work with Democrats to pass the upcoming government funding measure.

“I have reached out to the Speaker and said, ‘Extend the hand of friendship. We want to work together to pass a bill to keep government open as we had to supply the votes last year to open up government — let us supply the votes to keep government open. But we can’t do it unless we have a bill that is worthy of our support,'” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

House Republican Leadership is considering a proposal — dubbed a “cromnibus” — to fund most of government through September 2015 except for the Department of Homeland Security, which would only be funded for a short amount of time. That would allow the new Congress to take up the fight against President Obama’s executive amnesty when it takes office in January.

Some in the GOP’s more conservative wing have balked at the idea of providing any funding to Obama’s “lawless” executive actions, and conservative protestations could result in House leadership needing to rely on some Democratic votes to get the spending measure passed next week to avoid a shutdown. 

Some Democrats, including outgoing-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), have expressed an openness to go along with the cromnibus plan. 

“[House Majority Leader Kevin] McCarthy and I have talked,” Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters. “I don’t want to say he’s reached out to me for votes but we’ve talked about how they’re proceeding.”

“I don’t know,” Hoyer said, when asked if he expects Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass the government spending measure. He added, however, that Democrats do not think short term funding for DHS is “the best policy.”

Thursday, Republicans will offer part one of their strategy to confront President Obama’s executive amnesty with a vote on a bill sponsored by Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) that declares Obama’s executive actions on immigration “null and void.”

The measure is unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate.