WashPost: Ryan’s GOP Loses to Democrats in Omnibus Fight, 4 to 10

Paul Ryan John Boehner AP PhotoAndrew Harnik
AP/Andrew Harnik

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Republicans got fewer policy priorities into the $1 trillion omnibus bill than Democrats got, according to the Washington Post.

The Post‘s reporters examined the legislation and concluded that Democrats got ten legislative wins, whereas Republicans only won four.

The trillion-dollar legislation is the first major legislative fight for the new Speaker. But he gave Democrats major victories on controversial issues like abortion, climate change, migration, terrorism, and much more.

The Post reported 11 split-results.

Here are four of the ten major victories gained by Democrats, according to the Washington Post:

REFUGEES

Democratic win. Earlier this month, 47 Democrats joined nearly every House Republican in voting for new restrictions on refugees from Iraq and Syria. That led many Republicans to demand that language be included in the spending bill. But most of those Democrats said they did not want the provision included after the Obama administration called the provision unworkable, and Democratic leaders kept it off the bill. GOP leaders, meanwhile, said they were more focused on tightening the visa waiver program.

IMMIGRATION

Democratic win. Republicans did not succeed in adding riders that would affect President Obama’s executive orders regarding enforcement of immigration laws, which they had sought last year, or local jurisdictions’ “sanctuary city” policies. The latter became a major conservative priority over the summer after a California woman was murdered in San Francisco by a Mexican immigrant who had been repeatedly deported.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Democratic win. Republicans hoped to attack President Obama’s climate change agenda from at least two fronts. For one, they have tried to strike down or at least delay the Clean Power Plan rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, the first federal effort to limit carbon emissions from U.S. power plants. They also floated including language blocking Obama from sending federal funds to the global Green Climate Fund, a centerpiece of the international climate-change agreement reached this past weekend in Paris. Obama has pledged up to $3 billion in U.S. spending on the fund, which is meant to help poor countries cope with climate change. But Democrats were able to fend off both riders. The bill does include a new National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund that its sponsor, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), has said will “support work that helps Americans understand and adapt to forces like sea level rise, severe storms, and ocean acidification” related to climate change.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Democratic win. Democrats successfully forced Republicans to include extensions of tax credits for wind and solar producers in exchange for lifting the crude oil export ban. Democrats wanted to ensure that alternative fuels would not be marginalized by a flood of new U.S. oil exports.

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