House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the bill is loaded with "unscrutinized taxpayer-funded earmarks" that are "a textbook example of why Americans have grown so fed up with Washington."
But Ellis said the rationale for a spending freeze is weak, given that the stimulus package was passed and follows a Keynesian model of economics that advocates for increased government spending during a recession.
Ellis said his group is not in favor of spending freezes in general because they fail to root out government waste.
"I'm not being dismissive of Minority Leader Boehner's approach," Ellis said. "That's certainly a tool. But we need to have a smart tool" to cut government waste.
Ellis said the only way the spending bill would fail is if one of the amendments proposed in the Senate succeeds, because he doubts the House would vote again on the measure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., privately threatened to abandon the bill altogether Thursday night, infuriated that GOP leaders were stalling it even though they helped craft it and have a big stake in its passage, according to a Democratic leadership aide. The aide demanded anonymity to speak frankly about a private meeting.
If the larger spending bill ends up being amended by the Senate, the House would again have to act on that bill, giving Republicans more chances to launch political attacks.
Senate Democratic leaders prevailed upon Pelosi to stick with the measure for now. Letting it die would deny large spending increases for some of Democrats' favorite programs, such as food aid for children and pregnant women, in addition to billions of dollars for lawmakers' pet projects.
I don't think that having any budget at all would set well for the Democrats in Congress. Fox News
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