The House passed a short-term government funding extension that will keep spending at current levels until Dec. 23, a bill that would avert a government shutdown on Dec. 16.
The continuing resolution, known as a CR, will allow negotiators another week to finalize a yearlong omnibus funding bill. The appropriators announced Tuesday night that they had come to an agreement on the top-line numbers but need several more days to finish drafting the legislation.
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The CR, which passed 224-201, will now move to the Senate, where it will likely be considered Thursday before senators break for the weekend. If it passes, Congress will have until the following Friday to finalize and pass the bill under the pressure of a shutdown and the impending Christmas recess.
“If all goes well, we should be able to finish an omnibus appropriations package by Dec. 23,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), one of the four negotiators, said earlier this week.
Three top negotiators — Shelby, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) — did not release details of the agreement when they announced a “bipartisan, bicameral framework.” The fourth negotiator, incoming House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX), was missing from the announcement, as House Republicans led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are critical of a massive spending package decided by a lame-duck Congress with an outgoing Democratic majority.
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The negotiators were at an impasse for days over a $26 billion difference in nondefense spending. The entire package is around $1.7 trillion. Very few, if any, House Republicans are expected to vote for the bill, and Democrats currently only have a two-vote majority until the end of this session due to vacant seats. In the Senate, the omnibus will require significant bipartisan support.
House conservatives pushed for a short-term CR that would fund the government through mid-January so that the new GOP majority in the lower chamber would have more say in the outcome. This option appears to be off the table for Democrats, with the fallback option for not reaching a deal on the omnibus being a yearlong CR. McConnell has insisted the backup would be a short-term bill that expires early next year.
Just nine House Republicans voted for the one-week extension on Wednesday night.
