House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer has promised to help Republican leadership overcome rank-and-file opposition to passing a funding bill that does not include language barring President Obama from implementing his executive orders, according to one House appropriator.
House Republican whip Steve Scalise conferred “informally” with his Democratic counterpart earlier this week, Representative Mark Amodei (R., Nev.) tells National Review Online.
“There was earlier talk about, ‘Hey, Steny, are you going to be able to deliver some folks on this?’ and, at least earlier, he was like, ‘Yeah,’” said Amodei, who suggested that Republicans could muster 80 percent of the 218 votes needed to pass the bill. “It was not a discussion that was white-knuckled. Maybe it’s getting to white-knuckle the closer we get, but, I hope not.”
He disputed the idea that Republicans would need 100 Democrats to help them have a majority of House members. “It’s going to take some Democrats, but I don’t know if it’s a hundred,” Amodei said.
UPDATE: Hoyer’s office says Amodei is wrong. “Mr. Hoyer has not spoken to Mr. Scalise regarding the Republican funding proposal and has not promised Democratic support, as we have not seen what they are planning to bring to the Floor,” Mariel Saez, Hoyer’s national press secretary, said in a statement to NRO. ”He continues to urge House Republican leaders to bring an omnibus that funds the entire government to the Floor for a vote.”
The Washington Post’s Robert Costa reported yesterday that Hoyer told him House Republicans had reached out about getting votes for the bill. House speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), when asked if he would need Democratic help to pass the bill, told reporters this morning that he expected it would have “bipartisan support.”