U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) speaks at a press conference after the Democratic Senators Luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, DC, September 28, 2022.
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WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate has approved a one-week extension of federal funding to avoid a partial government shutdown that was scheduled to begin Saturday.
The bill passed 71-19, giving lawmakers a week to negotiate and pass a comprehensive bill to fund federal agencies through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. .
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a one-week extension by a vote of 224 to 201, with nine Republicans crossing party lines to support the bill.
That vote was technically bipartisan, but only one Republican returned. The other eight of his GOP votes were from lawmakers leaving Congress at the end of the year, either due to retiring or missing re-election.
The Senate is under pressure to pass the bill without delay on Thursday, drawing objections from individual senators who could delay voting under the expedited procedure used to pass the bill. It never happened.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday morning, “We need to act quickly to avoid today’s closure without the unwelcome uproar that has caused closures in the past few years.” said.
Schumer promised that both sides would spend the rest of the day completing a seven-day “continuing resolution” or CR bill.
The Senate vote on the makeshift CR is a shadow of much riskier negotiations currently underway over a massive overarching appropriations bill that would fund all federal agencies through the end of fiscal 2023 next September. It was held in.
On Tuesday night, the Senate’s top Republican and Democratic expropriators, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), said: announced that it had reached a framework agreement to begin full-scale negotiations on a comprehensive bill.
All three expressed optimism that the omnibus bill could be launched and passed before Congress leaves for Christmas on December 23rd.
But the top Republican in the House, Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, was notably absent from the announcement.
House Republicans have little incentive to help Democrats pass appropriations before Democrats win a majority on January 3.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has publicly advocated a series of CR bills that would end funding the government by January, giving him and his new majority greater influence. When you have it, you can work on broader appropriations bills.
