House

Majority Leader Cantor said the House would stay in session this weekend, if need be, to address the budget impasse.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he would vote against the Republican's proposed one-week spending bill when it comes up for a vote later on Thursday.

"I've said … that I would not vote for a third one, and I'm not going to vote for this one," Hoyer said. "It won't matter because it's dead anyway, and you all know it's dead."

The House just before noon approved a rule allowing for House consideration of a bill that would fund the federal government for another week, through April 15.

The rule was approved in a party-line vote, 228-189, in which all Republicans voted for it and all Democrats voted against. That reflects Democratic opposition to the underlying bill, which they say unfairly cuts from discretionary programs, but not from the Defense Department.

With the rule approved, the House began debating the bill, H.R. 1363, and was expected to approve it later Thursday.

House Speaker John Boenher (R-Ohio) said on the House floor Thursday morning that there is no deal yet on budget numbers for FY 2011, even as he was preparing to resume talks at the White House at 1 p.m.

"Talks to resolve last year's budget are progressing, but there is no agreement yet," he said shortly after 11 a.m. "No agreement on numbers, and no agreement on the underlying policies that were passed by this chamber."

Republicans accused the White House of a "lack of leadership"; Democrats said "take-no-prisoner" Tea Partiers are holding up a deal.

The House starts legislative business at 10 a.m. Thursday, and has plenty to get to.

The House plans to consider H.R. 1363, a one-week stopgap spending bill, barring a breakthrough at Wednesday night's meeting between congressional leaders.

Members also plan on final passage of H.R. 910, which would restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Finally, the House might also take up a resolution disapproving of the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rule.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday night approved a rule allowing for one hour of debate on H.R. 1363, a one-week stopgap spending measure that Democrats oppose because it cuts $12 billion in just one week.

The bill would keep the federal government funded through April 15. Current funding expires on Friday.

The rule for the bill prohibits amendments, but does give Democrats the chance to make one motion to recommit. Democrats today tried to make six amendments in order, but these were voted down in committee.

The House on Wednesday night rejected all but one Democratic amendment to a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. After the votes, the House moved to special-order speeches, leaving a vote on final passage of the Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910) until later in the week.

House Republicans accepted just one amendment, from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), that would specify that voluntary programs to address climate change are not prohibited by the bill. But they rejected all other Democratic amendments, including those that would require studies of the impact of the bill.

One of the more controversial amendments was offered by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who proposed language saying Congress accepts the EPA's findings that climate change is happening and is caused by human activities. Democrats argued that Republicans are trying to deny the existence of climate change, while Republicans countered that this issue is irrelevant to the bill, and rejected it along with all the others.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday announced an emergency meeting at 5 p.m. to approve a rule for H.R. 1363, the one-week spending bill that would cut $12 billion in one week and fund the Defense Department for the rest of FY 2011.

The Rules Committee meeting is a sign that negotiations on a longer-term budget deal are not progressing. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said the House would vote Thursday on the bill, and said that while some progress was being made, the talks were "not finished."

Democrats on Wednesday said they could not support H.R. 1363, which cuts too much and yet increases defense spending by 1.5 percent.

While most Democrats on Wednesday opposed the GOP's bill to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency authorities, three Democrats spoke in favor of it on the House floor and said failure to rein in the EPA would hurt job creation in rural areas of the country.

The House was debating H.R. 910, which would prohibit the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) was the first Democrat to speak out in favor of the bill, and rejected the idea put forward by other Democrats that the bill should be called the "Dirty Air Act." He said letting one agency decide how to regulate GHG is putting too much authority into a single agency.

"No single government agency, however, is sufficiently positioned to tackle the complex solution that's required to address carbon emissions," he said. "The answer has to be multi-pronged."