$1.1tn US budget deal imperiled by revolt over taxpayer net for risky bank trades

A last-ditch revolt against Wall Street efforts to overturn key banking reforms is threatening to derail passage of the $1.1 trillion US budget through Congress on Thursday just hours before funding for the federal government is due to expire.

Democrats in the House of Representatives have rallied around Senator Elizabeth Warren to oppose the plan, hatched with support from corporate lobbyists, which buries the clause deep in the 1,600-page omnibus spending bill and could extend future public bailouts to riskier trading activities.

Because the budget bill is also opposed by some on the right of the Republican party for delaying a fight with the Obama administration over immigration reform, the House speaker, John Boehner, may need some Democratic votes to secure passage of the omnibus bill before government funding authorisation expires at midnight on Thursday.

But the minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, has yet to say whether she will lend her support amid mounting disquiet on the left of the Democratic caucus over the Wall Street clause and other so-called “riders”, including further relaxation of campaign finance limits.

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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/11/us-budget-deal-in-peril