WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Congress next week is preparing to consider a bill that would fund the government through March 22, GOP lawmakers said Tuesday.
The current continuing spending resolution expires after Feb. 8, after which a partial government shutdown would occur unless Congress votes to keep the money flowing.
Republican leaders would not confirm the details of the spending bill under discussion.
“We are still negotiating the contents and duration of that,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Republicans and Democrats have yet to reach a deal on a year-long spending measure but are close to a deal, according to some GOP lawmakers.
“I’m not optimistic about getting anything before the 8th,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
The short-term continuing resolution, or CR, will be the fifth temporary spending measure passed in fiscal year 2018, which started Oct. 1.
The House is expected to take up the measure early next week. Lawmakers from both moderate and conservative factions said they anticipate the bill will pass despite increasing resistance to the short-term funding pattern, which has been particularly harmful to the military.
A spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee, which would author the bill, said no decisions have been finalized.
“We’ll go through this again where some people will posture and say we won’t vote for the CR, then the president will call them and they will vote for the CR,” Dent said. “I think we’ll get another CR.
The extra time, Dent said, will give the GOP more time to work out an immigration reform deal and now, secure an accord to lift the nation’s borrowing limit, which the Treasury Secretary said must be raised in March.
Just two weeks ago, Democrats shut down the government over the failure of Republicans to attach immigration language to the bill. As a condition of re-opening the government, Senate Republicans agreed to either include a full immigration deal in the next spending bill, or vote on a separate stand-alone measure to create a new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is unlikely to pass unless a broader agreement is reached that also boosts border security and makes other reforms.
