The White House said Friday that President Obama isn’t ready to sign a Republican bill funding the government for the next several months, and said the GOP still has a way to go before he and other Democrats are happy.
“It’s not at all clear to me that he is prepared to sign this bill because he believes that Congress has got some more work to do,” Earnest said.
For example, the House version doesn’t include money to help Flint, Mich., address its drinking water crisis.
“I know there are a bunch of Democrats who are advocating for that approach, but not enough Republicans,” Earnest said. “And the president is concerned that that situation has not been addressed in the context of these ongoing negotiations.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office was quick to point out that the Senate already agreed to send money to Flint through separate legislation. But Earnest responded by saying that the House’s version is lacking and that Obama wants to see a final continuing resolution that contains a provision for Flint.
Earnest otherwise lauded McConnell’s spending blueprint for including money to fight the Zika virus.
“Not as much money as we initially requested, but after seven months of waiting, it is a welcomed development that Republicans in Congress are finally moving forward on a bipartisan proposal to give our public health professionals the resources that they need to fight the Zika virus,” Earnest said.
Obama also opposes “a rider that would essentially protect the ability of special interests to funnel money into political campaigns without having to disclose it,” Earnest said. “First of all, I don’t really know what a proposal like that’s doing in a budget bill.”
McConnell’s proposal to keep the government open past Sept. 30 contains no such provision, the Kentucky Republican’s spokesman, Don Stewart, pointed out.
“That provision is in current law, a law that the president signed last year,” Stewart stated in response to Earnest’s accusation. “What the president wanted was a partisan rider to remove the provision from current law.”
Earnest said Obama is hopeful Democrats and Republicans can avoid a partial government shutdown.
“And hopefully, they’ll get to work on that and get it done without putting the American people and the American economy through another cliffhanger related to a government shutdown,” Earnest said, referring to congressional Republicans.
