Congressional leaders struck a deal Thursday on a short-term funding bill that would keep the government open until mid-February, but it remains to be seen whether lawmakers will be able to avert a shutdown.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said the stop-gap bill would keep funding for the government at Trump-era levels until Feb. 18, apart from an additional $7 billion earmarked for Afghan refugee resettlement.
Ms. DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat, argued that the short-term measure would give lawmakers time to work on a bipartisan, full-year budget.
“To build pressure for an omnibus [full-year budget], the [bill] includes virtually no changes to existing funding or policy,” she said. “The end date is February 18. While I wish it were earlier, this agreement allows the appropriations process to move forward toward a final funding agreement which addresses the needs of the American people.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, is expected to hold a vote to pass the bill as early as Thursday.
A cadre of House Republicans will attempt to block its consideration over President Biden’s national vaccine mandate.
SEE ALSO: Republican rebels force Schumer to choose between shutdown and Biden’s vaccine mandate
“In what world can Republicans look at the American people with a straight face and claim to fight for them if they vote to fund the government tyrannically forcing them to get the jab or lose their job?” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican.
Despite the efforts of Mr. Roy and others, the legislation appears headed to passage, given that Democrats narrowly control the House.
In the Senate, split 50-50, the situation is more tenuous.
Five Republican senators are threatening to use an arsenal of legislative procedures to delay consideration of a short-term funding bill unless it strips out funding to enforce the mandate.
The Republicans hope to delay a vote until after Friday — the date by which Congress must pass a spending bill to keep the government open.
“I have long said that I am not particularly invested in the timing of a given vote,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican backing the effort. “I think we should use the leverage we have to fight against what are illegal, unconstitutional and abusive mandates from a president and an administration that knows they are violating the law.”
Mr. Cruz and his allies know they do not have the votes to kill the spending bill outright in the evenly split Senate. At the moment, there are easily 10 GOP senators willing to join with all 50 Senate Democrats to break a filibuster and keep the government afloat.
Given that reality, the five GOP holdouts plan to use the Senate’s longstanding rules and precedents to their benefit. Within the chamber, unanimous consent is needed to expedite consideration of a bill, meaning that all 100 senators must agree on moving forward.
Generally, Senate leaders negotiate the number of amendments and time allotted for debate before unanimous consent is offered. If even one lawmaker opts to object, the process is sidelined and normal order must be followed.
The GOP rebels plan to do exactly that unless their demands are met by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
“So as long as [Schumer] makes sure we don’t fund that unconstitutional mandate, we’ll be okay with unanimous consent,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who is part of the group. “So it’s totally on his back.”
Provided the opposition holds, Mr. Schumer will have to wait at least two days to break a filibuster on the bill, depending on its introduction. If the effort succeeds, which by all estimates it will, the Senate then will debate the legislation for at least 30 hours before a final vote.
The time frame puts lawmakers well past the Friday deadline, meaning the earliest the bill could pass would be over the weekend or next Monday. All of that is contingent upon whether the five Republicans use other procedural motions to prolong the debate.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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