House Democrats reject first spending offer from Republicans

House Speaker Paul Ryan is probably going to need some Democratic votes to pass an omnibus budget bill by the December 11 deadline, or face shutdown. So far, he doesn't have those votes because Republicans have insisted on keeping too many poison pill policy riders in the mix.

A spokesman for the Democrats on the Appropriations Committee called the offer "unacceptable and not serious," a sentiment echoed by top sources in Democratic leadership.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is meeting Wednesday morning with her inner circle, and will convene the full-party later in the morning. Several Democrats told POLITICO they will try to force the GOP to go back to the drawing board to come up with an offer more acceptable to the bipartisan majority that will be needed for passage. […]

The yearlong omnibus spending bill that Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) sent to Democrats Tuesday night included several policy riders the minority found unacceptable. One such provision is language that would beef up oversight of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. That bill passed the House with essentially a veto-proof majority, but Democrats are balking at including it in a must-pass yearlong government-funding bill. Some language addressing the Syrian refugee crisis will be included in the bill, as lawmakers fret about homeland security in the wake of the terrorist attack in Paris.

Republican lawmakers aren't fretting about security too much, as they absolutely refused to even consider talking about preventing people on the terrorist watch list from getting guns. As usual, the NRA takes precedence over everything else. That refusal by Republicans will likely only strengthen Democratic resolve to reject Republican efforts to enact policy via unrelated spending bills—particularly when those policy efforts erode environmental protections, weaken Wall Street reform and consumer protections, and generally try to undo most of what the Obama administration has tried to accomplish.

Democrats have had a bit of success so far by dropping some objectionable immigration riders. So they've got incentive to keep rejecting bad deals. While the 246 Republicans should be able to get legislation through without Democrats, the Freedom Caucus could stand in the way. Many have expressed regret over supporting John Boehner's budget deal that increases spending levels. When it comes down to actually spending that money—especially if it doesn't fuck over President Obama in every possible way—their votes can't be counted on.