WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday approved a bill to fund the government for another week, as lawmakers rush to finish work on a year-long spending package before heading home for the holidays and the pledged loan in – a new Congress.
In September, Congress passed a bill that keeps the government open until midnight Friday. The latest extension, which now heads to President Joe Biden’s office to be signed into law, funds federal agencies through Dec. 23. It was passed by a vote of 71-19.
“Negotiations continue to move in the right direction, but we still have a lot of work to do and not enough time to do it unless we extend government funding for another week,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. urging MPs to support the interim measure.
The roughly $1.7 trillion package under negotiation would fund the day-to-day operations of government agencies for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Federal spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare are not part of the annual appropriations process and are not included in the package.
via the Associated Press
House Republicans have asked for a long-term extension until early next year so they can have a bigger role in setting spending levels for agencies. House Democrats were able to advance the bill with little GOP support earlier this week.
But Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, has argued that passing a full-year spending bill this Congress is better than the alternatives because it provides a sizeable boost to defense spending.
“If a truly bipartisan, year-round, poison-pill-free bill is ready for final Senate approval by the end of next week, I will support it for our military,” McConnell said Wednesday. “Otherwise, we’ll adopt a short-term continuing resolution in the new year.”
Some Senate Republicans have opposed efforts to pass a spending bill before House Republicans can take over. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., said he supports the short-term extension for next year because it would mean “more Republican priorities” in the final package.
via the Associated Press
Sen. Richard Shelby, the Republican leader of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the two parties have a total spending of about $25 billion. But lawmakers announced on Tuesday that they had agreed a “framework” that should allow negotiations to be completed by next week.
The final bill is also expected to include the Biden administration’s request for an additional $37 billion in aid to Ukraine, as well as other bipartisan priorities, including a ballot measure aimed at preventing another Jan. 6 uprising. The bill would make it more difficult for lawmakers to oppose a state’s electoral votes and clarify that the vice president’s constitutional role in the proceedings is exclusively ministerial.
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