WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is poised to vote on a bipartisan pact charting a two-year budget truce and Republicans are set to nominate Rep. Paul Ryan as the chamber's new speaker, milestones GOP leaders hope will transform their party's recent chaos into calm in time for next year's presidential and congressional campaigns.
Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate were urging lawmakers to back the agreement, which would resolve fights over defense and domestic spending and federal borrowing until early 2017. Expectations were for House passage Wednesday and final Senate approval next week, even as hard-right conservatives and farm-state lawmakers arrayed against the deal.
STATE HOUSE — Sen. Michael Barrett joined environmentalists and economists in calling for a substantial gas tax increase Tuesday, calling it a "user fee on pollution" and promoting rebates and payouts that would be delivered to all residents.
The proposal, backed by nearly four dozen House and Senate Democrats, would put a financial burden on those who use the most heat and hot water or burn the most gasoline, as the price of those fuels would have a charge added, and the state would then attempt a fair distribution of carbon rebates.
