Procedural Moves Could Delay Senate CRomnibus Vote, Revive Amnesty Defunding Effort

Tonight Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to vote on the $1.1 trillion government-funding package known as CRomnibus but, to do so, he will need unanimous agreement from all Senators. Any Senator could object and delay consideration. Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Mike Lee (Utah), and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) are expected to use a procedural move to call for a vote on defunding President Obama’s executive amnesty, the Daily Caller reports.

The media report that Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., or Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., could seek to delay floor proceedings. Sen. Sessions has been a leading advocate of defunding the president’s executive amnesty, a matter the House-passed spending bill did not address. Sen. Warren objects to provisions in the bill unrelated to immigration. Either could postpone a final vote until Monday by refusing to agree to Reid’s unanimous consent request.

Without a consent agreement, Reid would be blocked from calling up the bill and moving to limit debate tonight. A cloture vote could not be held before Sunday under the Senate rules. The Senate will need 60 votes to clear that procedural hurdle.

Sens. Cruz, Lee, and Sessions plan a procedural move that could yield a vote on an amendment to the spending bill that would defund executive amnesty. The “point of order” motion would force a procedural vote on the issue, even if Senator Reid has not succeeded in introducing it.

The government is currently operating under a two-day continuing resolution that expires Saturday at midnight, although the House today passed a five-day CR to give the Senate more time.

Read more in The Hill.