Boehner, House Republicans Bow to Schumer, Drop Terrorism Insurance from Omnibus

Boehner, House Republicans Bow to Schumer, Drop Terrorism Insurance from Omnibus

Speaker John Boehner and Republican House leaders have reportedly given in to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and pulled the reauthorization of terrorism insurance from the draft omnibus spending bill.

“An aide said Tuesday that the reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act will not be hitching a ride on the so-called cromnibus, effectively clearing what has become the biggest hurdle to the spending package,” CQ Roll Call wrote on Tuesday afternoon. “The House Rules Committee posted that bill on its site Tuesday, indicating it could come up for floor consideration this week. The panel also posted a substitute amendment from Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas.”

This latest cave from House GOP leadership comes after House Financial Services Committee chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), a conservative, was the last one holding the line on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Ask (TRIA) when it comes to the CR-omnibus spending bill as of late Monday.

“Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a frequent foe of big business who chairs the Financial Services Committee, is trying to use the negotiations over renewing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act to enact changes to Dodd-Frank, the 2010 banking regulation law Republicans have tried to dismantle,” Politico wrote late Tuesday.

The biggest opponent of Hensarling’s on this was Schumer–and he had help from the White House.

“Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the White House are opposed, and think Hensarling is overreaching and slowing the talks,” Politico wrote.

This means that not only does Boehner’s CR-omnibus enable President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, it backs up the institutional left and the Democrats on a whole host of other things too. Politico, in a Tuesday report, found that House Republicans gave former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a handout for Obamacare contraception in the CR-omnibus and Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) told an energy trade reporter that the GOP was getting ready to cave to Obama on EPA regulations in the bill too.

The government will shut down on Thursday at midnight if a short-term Continuing Resolution isn’t passed to deal with government funding while negotiators hash out the final details of a longer-term spending measure — assuming Congress continues forward with this plan. 

It’s always possible that enough House Republicans will oppose the bill once the text is released. If that happens and Boehner and Pelosi together can’t make up the votes necessary to pass a deal, a whole host of possibilities would open up. The most likely is a short-term CR until the new Republican Congress takes over.

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