House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged her Democrat colleagues not to give in to a Republican proposal that will fund the government before it shuts down next week.
According to
a Politico report, Pelosi met with Democrats Thursday morning and said they should not support the GOP's proposal until they know what's in it.
"If we stay together, we have leverage," Pelosi said, according to Politico. She added that if Republicans move "further to the right" to secure more Republican support, Democrats will abandon their support.
"If you think it's a good idea to tell them, 'Oh, I'll be with you no matter what,' then you destroy our leverage," Politico reports Pelosi as saying, citing sources present during the meeting. "And if they have the votes, then it's a non-situation. If they have 218, if it isn't too brutal, the president will have to make a decision. But we don't have to vote against our interest if they have the 218. We're willing to compromise if they want to do that to one of us."
In order to avoid another government shutdown, Congress must pass a spending bill before Dec. 11. House Republicans
made significant progress on Thursday, with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, saying that he and his Senate counterpart, Democrat Barbara Mikulski, plan to "sign off on the final deal" on Friday.
Pelosi, however, warned the contents of the bill would be scrutinized by the left.
"Let us supply the votes to keep government open but we can't do that unless we have a bill worthy of our support," Pelosi told reporters.
The House is prepared to fund most of the government until next September, although funding for the Department of Homeland Security would only be extended into March.
That department handles immigration, a contentious subject in the wake of President Barack Obama's announcement
to grant amnesty to about five million illegal immigrants living in the United States.
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