The Senate on Thursday passed a measure to keep the government funded through Dec. 16, five days beyond the current Dec. 11 deadline for reaching a spending deal.
The extension was approved by voice vote, and the House is expected to clear it for Obama’s signature Thursday or Friday.
Lawmakers ran out of time to cobble together a longer deal by Friday that would have funded the government for the rest of fiscal 2016. The two parties are squabbling not over spending, but on which policy riders to exclude or include in the legislation.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that the two sides continue to negotiate after Democrats sent an offer late Wednesday.
Republicans want a rider to halt Syrian and Iraqi refugees from coming to the United States without heightened scrutiny. Democrats want to lift a ban on federal funding for gun safety studies.
