The House overwhelmingly passed its latest temporary spending measure to avoid a scheduled government shutdown over the weekend, extending the deadlines for all 12 must-pass appropriations bills into March.
Lawmakers voted 320-99 on the continuing resolution, surpassing the two-thirds majority needed to change the spending deadlines in order to buy more time to finalize legislative text and pass the budget for the 2024 fiscal year. The two Democrats who voted “no” with 97 Republicans were Reps. Mike Quigley of Illinois and Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts.
The new agreement preserves the two-pronged deadline system pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and paves the way for Congress to pass its first batch of appropriations bills next week.
Under the agreement, the deadline for six appropriations bills — Agriculture; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development; Energy and Water; Interior and Environment; and Commerce, Justice, and Science — would be moved to March 8. The remaining six, which are among the more controversial, would be extended to March 22.
The first tranche of appropriations bills are expected to be advanced as a package, otherwise known as a “minibus,” that would allow lawmakers to pass all six bills through one vote. Bill text for that package is expected to be released over the weekend, according to Johnson.
It’s not clear whether the second round of bills will be voted on separately or if lawmakers will also combine them into a single vote.
The decision to move forward with a minibus comes as a reversal to Republicans’ previous stance to vote on all 12 appropriations bills separately. However, Johnson framed the proposal as a win for Republicans, arguing House leaders have broken the “omnibus fever,” referring to large legislative packages used to pass the government’s budget in previous years.
“That’s how Washington has been run for years,” Johnson said on Thursday. “By having the laddered CR approach and the laddered approach is that you have separate tranches of bills instead of one big omnibus that nobody can read or understand.”
But not all House Republicans are convinced.
“Let me tell you, that was the part that I nearly burst out laughing out loud,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told the Washington Examiner in response.
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“Watching House Republicans is like watching a football team whose best play is the punt and the block,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). “We ought to reject this CR and pass single-subject spending bills and vote for the [spending] cuts this country desperately needs.”
The continuing resolution will now be sent to the Senate, where it will need to be fast-tracked in order to avoid a partial government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday. Once it passes the upper chamber, it will then head to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
