Are We Going to Need a Continuing Resolution?

The conference committee of House and Senate members had reached agreement on the funding bill needed to pay for the activities of the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year. This bill must be passed by Friday to keep the government open. At the last minute, Harry Reid directed the senate members of the committee not to sign the conference report. By doing this, Reid attempted to make sure that the House did not send its members home for Christmas leaving the Senate to accept the House plan for the payroll tax extension or else to see the tax rate increased for millions of workers across America. In other words, Reid is holding government operations hostage to get his way on another matter.

There is a rather simple solution to this problem. The House should pass a continuing resolution giving the government funds to operate for another month and send that to the Senate. Then the House can go home. At that point, it will be solely up to the Democrats in the Senate if they want to shut down the government, and they will have that same burden with regard to extending the payroll tax cut.