Senate passes funding bill to prevent shutdown through US midterms
Bill must still be approved by House but would keep government running at current funding levels The US Senate on Friday passed a government funding bill that will prevent a shutdown through the midterm elections, though it still must be approved by the House of Representatives. The continuing resolution (CR) passed by a 90-6 vote will keep the government running at its current funding levels…
The US Senate has approved a funding bill on Friday, preventing a government shutdown through the upcoming midterms. The continuing resolution (CR), passed with a 90-6 vote, will maintain current funding levels until December 11, extending beyond the midterms on November 3, in hopes of Democrats regaining control of Congress and halting President Trump's legislative agenda.
The bill's passage signals a mutual desire among both parties to avert a potential shutdown in the weeks leading up to the November vote. The government would have shut down on September 30 if no funding had been approved. Senate appropriations committee chair Susan Collins hailed the CR as a significant step towards avoiding a damaging shutdown that harms vital programs and federal workers, stating it does not alter funding levels.
The House had previously approved a different CR extending funding until December 4, with the chamber currently on recess until the end of the month, and senators expected to leave Washington D.C. for a break following the vote. The Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, highlighted the Senate's bill addressing several critical issues, including blocking a new White House rule feared by Democrats to potentially cancel grants at the administration's discretion.
Additionally, the Senate CR resolves a loophole in the House bill allowing the White House to divert funds meant for one purpose to another, such as supporting border patrol. Democrats initiated a government shutdown last year by refusing to approve funding bills without extending subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, leading to the longest funding lapse in US history, though no agreement was reached to keep cost offsets after the shutdown ended 43 days later.
Earlier this year, government agencies briefly shut down again after Democrats blocked a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in protest of the killings by federal agents of two US citizens during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. While an agreement was eventually reached to fund DHS operations exclusive of agencies involved in Trump's mass deportation efforts, Republicans quickly passed a party-line bill allocating funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for the duration of Trump's presidency, with no reforms to immigration enforcement.
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