At a pad-and-pen session with reporters Tuesday, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) dodged questions regarding the extent of Democratic support for a six-month spending package negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), and the White House.
Hoyer wouldn’t say whether or not he would personally support the bill, which was posted online late Monday and will be voted on later this week. He said members of both parties were still reviewing the bill with staff, but Hoyer did not exactly seemed thrilled with the final product.
“There are a number of things I don’t like,” Hoyer said, adding that the efforts of Harry Reid and President Obama “made a bad situation less bad.”
Twenty-eight Republicans voted against the one-week “bridge” bill, which is one more than Republicans can lose before they’ll have to rely on Democratic votes for passage. Hoyer said he didn’t know whether GOP leadership would ask for his help whipping the vote.
“We’ll have to see,” he said. “My presumption is we don’t know where our people are and I don’t think they know where their people are.”