What's a CRomnibus? Washington insiders create a word in budget fight

Take an obscure abbreviation, add insider-speak and you end up with the latest version of Washington argot.

CRomnibus. (Pronounced: KROM-ne-bus.)

That's the term Capitol Hill mavens and the media covering Congress have come up with for House Republicans' latest effort to prevent a government shutdown next week.

It starts with CR. That's the inside-the-Beltway term for a stopgap spending bill known as a continuing resolution. The government is operating under a CR now. House Speaker John Boehner's hope is to keep the Department of Homeland Security — which is implementing President Barack Obama's controversial immigration changes — on a short leash by keeping it funded by CR for a few months until the all-GOP Congress can tackle the issue next year.

But the rest of the government would be funded under a catchall spending bill known as an omnibus.

Put the two together and you get CRomnibus.

A check of the hashtag #CRomnibus on Twitter pulls up media mentions, as well as a post by a spokesman for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi reminding people that Boehner opposed an earlier CRomnibus in 2007.