The danger of another government shutdown receded Tuesday as the House voted to take up a stopgap spending bill that bypasses the thorny immigration debate that had threatened to ensnare Congress in another deadline showdown.
Instead of immigration, the big debate now will be on whether to approve President Obama’s request that Capitol Hill authorize him to train and equip Syrian rebels, at a cost of $500 million, to fight back against Islamic State militants.
That request appears likely to pass the House Wednesday and the Senate as early as Thursday, clearing the way for Congress to flee town until after November’s midterm elections.
“The president’s request is to train vetted Free Syrian Army types to fight [the Islamic State] in Syria, and I frankly think the president’s request is a sound one,” House Speaker John A. Boehner said after meeting with fellow Republicans in the morning. “I think there’s a lot more that we need to be doing, but there’s no reason for us not to do what the president asked us to do.”
When Congress returns, some lawmakers have said they want to force a debate on the broader policy in Iraq, which involves U.S. troops serving as advisers to Iraqi forces and conducting airstrikes to stem advances by Islamic State fighters.
But until they return, nearly two months from now, Mr. Obama will have a free hand to conduct the war as he wants.
SEE ALSO: Obama airstrike threat in Syria prompts Islamic State to go underground
The aid package for Syrian rebels will be voted on as an amendment to the stopgap spending bill to keep the government open into the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Congress has not passed any of the 12 spending bills required to fund basic government operations each year, making it necessary to approve the stopgap spending bill, known in Capitol-speak as a “continuing resolution” or “CR.”
It generally keeps the government funded at current levels, though with some changes to handle Ebola and other immediate needs.
Earlier this summer, it had appeared that immigration would be the touchstone issue in the spending debate. The surge of illegal immigrant children was peaking, and as Mr. Obama was vowing to take unilateral action to halt deportations for illegal immigrants already in the U.S.
Some Republicans had insisted that Congress not approve any funding bill unless it also halted Mr. Obama’s nondeportation policies, which the GOP lawmakers said had fed into the surge of illegal immigrant children and families coming across the border.
But the surge has receded and Mr. Obama put off more executive action on immigration until after the election.
SEE ALSO: John Boehner calls Obama’s request on training rebels ‘a sound one’
On Tuesday, the House voted 221-192 to bring the stopgap bill to the floor without any immigration amendments attached.
In doing so, they denied Democratic campaign operatives an avenue of attack ahead of the elections.
Democrats had warned that the GOP was itching for a shutdown along the lines of last year’s fiasco, which saw House Republicans insist on trying to defund Obamacare as part of the annual spending debate. Senate Democrats balked, and the government went into a partial shutdown for 17 days.
The shutdown ended when House Republicans relented and allowed the government to be fully funded again, in exchange for promises of a future budget deal.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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