The Senate passed a stopgap government funding bill Thursday afternoon, with a vote in the House scheduled later today to avert a looming weekend shutdown.
The Senate passed it 77-18. further spending The Department of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, and Military Construction will remain in effect at their current levels until March 1.
of 13 page bill It also approved funding for the Department of Defense and all other federal agencies through March 8.
Eighteen Republicans voted against the bill, easily passing the 60-vote threshold for adoption.
“There is good news for America: There will be no shutdown on Friday,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor speech. “Because both sides have worked together, the government remains open, services remain uninterrupted, and unnecessary disasters are avoided.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, said a shutdown “is not an option that is acceptable to everyone,” adding that it presents an additional “opportunity” for agencies to prepare for contingencies. He pointed out the cost.
“We hope House Republicans will work with us,” she added, “and that means turning extreme partisan demands out the door.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), who opposed the bill, filed a last-minute motion calling for it to be sent back to the Appropriations Committee and instead to prepare a full year of government funding through the end of the fiscal year. However, it was approved.voted against 82-13.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who also voted “no,” failed to pass an amendment to the bill that would ban U.S. funding to the West Bank and Gaza. 44-50.
The House was scheduled to vote on the bill on Friday, but with another snowstorm expected to blanket Washington, D.C., the Republican-controlled House is likely to pass it later Thursday with support from Democrats. aides told the Post.
The bill would require a two-thirds vote in the narrowly divided House, with more Democrats than Republicans expected to vote in favor, one aide said.
President Biden must then sign the bill before the government lights dim at midnight Friday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) acknowledged Wednesday that the money won't give his caucus “everything we want,” but he urged a “ladder” approach to the spending plan before the winter break. introduced, but this was adopted again to extend it. Funding Deadline.
He has expressed a desire to return the House to normal order and pass 12 separate spending bills for federal agencies and federal operations, a feat not accomplished since 1996.
Passage of the bill also allows Prime Minister Johnson to further negotiate with Schumer a deal for $1.66 trillion in government funding for fiscal year 2024, including $888 billion in defense spending and $773 billion in discretionary spending. becomes.
Schumer last week accused hardline House Republicans of trying to “bully” the speaker and his colleagues into a government shutdown.
Conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus wrote in the continuing resolution:Surrender” they describe as out-of-control federal spending under Democratic rule.
“The @HouseGOP plans to pass a short-term spending bill that continues at Pelosi levels with the Biden policy, to buy time to pass a long-term spending bill with the Pelosi level with the Biden policy,” the Freedom Caucus posted Sunday on X did.
“Yesterday, we asked every Republican, plus 14 Democrats, to vote to denounce and end Mr. Biden's open borders policy.” Added said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the caucus chairman. solution It passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“Now is the time to mandate border security to fund this government. Close the borders or close the government!” he threatened.
The government announced on Oct. 1 that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had previously sought to avert a government shutdown that ultimately led to his ouster by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida). Since passing the bill, continuing resolutions have been funded. ), and seven other Republicans.
In November, Prime Minister Johnson passed two separate continuing resolutions extending funding deadlines to January 19 and February 2. All funding bills maintained federal spending at fiscal year 2023 levels.
Senate Republicans and Democrats are also working on a separate $106 billion national security supplement to send military aid to Ukraine and Israel and reform U.S. border laws.
Johnson, along with Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), met with Biden at the White House on Wednesday. , expressed concern about the proposed border agreement.
He later appeared and emphasized the national security and humanitarian “catastrophe” taking place at the southern border, he told reporters.Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who participated in the deliberations, later said: Broken added that the president agreed with the U.S. immigration system. “
The House speaker has rejected a previously leaked draft bill posted by a conservative immigration group, and Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the group's chief Republican negotiator, said he and others “Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.'' ”
