Congress averts a government shutdown, sending a short-term funding bill to Biden

Congress
sent
a
short-term
funding
bill
to President
Joe
Biden’s
desk Thursday,
averting
a
partial
government
shutdown
this
weekend
and buying
lawmakers more
time
to
fund
federal
agencies
through
September.

The
Senate
passed
the
stopgap
measure,
known
as
a
continuing
resolution,
or
CR,
on
a
77-13
vote;
60
votes
were
needed
for
passage
under
an
agreement
between
the
parties. Earlier
in
the
day,
the
legislation
cleared
the
House
on
a
320-99
vote.

Alleged
Pentagon
leaker
Jack
Teixeira
appears
ready
to
plead
guilty

“It’s
good
we’re
not
shutting
down.
And
now
let
us
finish
the
job
of
funding
the
government
so
we
don’t
have
to
do
this
again,”
Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer,
D-N.Y.,
said
before
the
vote.
“As
I’ve
said
repeatedly
to
the
speaker,
the
only
way
to
get
things
done
in
divided
government
is
bipartisanship.
I’m
glad
the
speaker
heard
our
plea
and
worked
with
us
to
avoid
a
shutdown
next
week.” 

The
CR
is
part
of a
broader
bipartisan
spending
deal congressional
leaders
announced
Wednesday
that
includes
six
of
the
12
spending
bills
that
fund
federal
agencies.
The
White
House
has
endorsed
the
deal,
and
Biden
is
expected
to
sign
the
CR
into
law
before
money
runs
out
for
part
of
the
government
late
Friday.

House
Speaker
Mike
Johnson,
R-La.,
had
faced
criticism
from
rank-and-file
conservatives
that
they
had
been
kept
in
the
dark
about
his
negotiations
with
the
Democrats.
But
addressing
reporters
Thursday,
Johnson
argued
that
the
bipartisan
agreement
allows
Congress
to
fund
the
government
by
passing
individual
bills
rather
than
one
massive,
catchall
spending
package,
known
as
an
omnibus.

“The
appropriations
process
is
ugly;
democracy
is
ugly.
This
is
the
way
it
works
every
year;
always
has.
Except
that
we
instituted
some
innovations;
we
broke
the
omnibus
fever,”
Johnson
said
at
his
weekly
news
conference.

“We’re
trying
to
turn
the
aircraft
carrier
back
to
real
budgeting
and
spending
reform,”
he
said.
“This
was
an
important
thing
—
to
break
it
up
into
smaller
pieces.”

The
new
CR
would
extend
the
funding
deadline
for
half
of
the
dozen
must-pass
spending
bills
by
one
week,
to
March
8.
Those
six
bills
—
to
fund
departments
such
as
Agriculture,
Commerce,
Energy,
Interior,
Justice,
Transportation
and
Veterans
Affairs
—
will
be
voted
on
next
week,
leaders
said.

The
funding
deadline
for
the
remaining
six
bills
would
be
pushed
back
by
two
weeks,
to
March
22.
Leaders
say
that
should
give
Congress
enough
time
to
pass
all
of
the
spending
bills
for
the
fiscal
year
that
ends
on
Sept.
30.

The
agreement
“would
help
prevent
a
needless
shutdown
while
providing
more
time
to
work
on
bipartisan
appropriations
bills
and
for
the
House
to
pass
the
bipartisan
national
security
supplemental
as
quickly
as
possible,”
White
House
press
secretary
Karine
Jean-Pierre
said.

The
Senate
vote
moved
more
quickly
than
usual
Thursday
after
Sen.
Rand
Paul,
R-Ky.,
a
frequent
critic
of
spending
bills,
secured
a
vote
from
leadership
on
his
amendment
to
curtail
the
Federal
Reserve’s
power
and
agreed
to
speed
consideration
of
the
CR.
Sen.
Josh
Hawley,
R-Mo., dropped
a
hold on
the
CR
after
he
got
his
own
agreement
to
hold
a
vote
on
his
bill
to
compensate
victims
of
nuclear
radiation.

Johnson
said
passing
all
of
the
fiscal
2024
bills
would
allow
Congress
to
quickly
begin
negotiating
the
next
round
of
appropriations
bills
for
the
new
fiscal
year
that
begins
on
Oct.
1.

But
conservatives
still
lambasted
the
bipartisan
deal
for
kicking
the
can
down
the
road
deeper
into
March
and
not
making
significant
cuts
in
spending.

“It’s
just
more
of
the
failures
of
the
past
continued
on.
The
American
people
gave
us
control
14
months
ago,
and
you
still
have
the
spending
levels
from
the
horrible
omnibus
that
was
passed
at
the
end
of
’22,”
Rep.
Bob
Good,
R-Va.,
the
chairman
of
the
far-right
Freedom
Caucus,
told
NBC
News.

“Those
spending
levels
are
in
place;
those
policies
are
in
place,”
he
said.
“We’ve
made
no
measurable
difference
as
a
Republican
majority.”

Neither
the
short-term
bill
nor
the
government
funding
deals
include
any
military
assistance
or aid
to
Israel,
Taiwan
and
Ukraine,
the
latter
of
which Johnson
continues
to
resist.
He
has
indicated
that foreign
aid will
be
tackled
separately,
without
committing
to
allowing
a
vote on
the
Ukraine
funding.