Rep. Steve Israel, New York Democrat, said that House Democrats can provide the vast majority of votes needed to pass a “clean” spending bill to keep the House open, rejecting the current House GOP strategy of focusing on small-bore bill targeting key sectors of the shuttered federal bureaucracy.
“This is not a restaurant menu, this is the United States government, and what the Republicans are giving us is not a responsible solution to open the government, it is political strategy,” Mr. Israel said Friday afternoon on CNN.
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He said a minimum of 180 Democrats will vote for the clean continuing resolution if GOP House Speaker John A. Boehner brings it to the floor. With about 20 Republicans who have stated they will join with Democrats, Mr. Israel said passing the clean short-term bill is “a done deal.”
When CNN “Newsroom” host Wolf Blitzer pointed out that those numbers did not reach the 217 threshold needed in the House, Mr. Israel said that he didn’t want to get too specific on the numbers.
