The House passed a short-term spending measure on Tuesday meant to keep the government afloat for the next month as bipartisan lawmakers race to devise a year-long budget deal.
In a 272-to-162 vote, lawmakers approved a bill to keep the government funded until March 11 at current spending levels. House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said the stopgap measure was needed to ensure the government did not shut down on Feb. 18.
“Our country needs a government funding agreement to create good-paying jobs, grow opportunity for the middle class and protect our national security,” said Ms. DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat.
The bill also includes a one-time appropriation of $350 million to address water contamination at a fuel storage facility near military housing in Hawaii, following a leak that embarrassed the Pentagon..
The legislation now heads to the Senate where Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer has pledged to bring it up for a vote as early as this week.
“I intend to have the Senate take it up quickly and in time for the Feb. 18 deadline,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat. “We will avoid a costly shutdown.”
Republican senators are expected to provide at least 10 votes to ensure the funding package overcomes the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. GOP lawmakers, who have been burned by shutdowns before, are eager to avoid another one, especially given the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Avoiding a government shutdown is an obvious common sense,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.
Democrats initially wanted to have a year-long government funding deal agreed to before the Feb. 18 deadline.
That proved impossible for Republicans when Democrats rejected calls to keep domestic and defense spending increases equal and leave out divisive issues such as immigration and climate change. Democrats have also pushed to change longstanding budgetary prohibitions on federal funding for abortion.
“I’ve been saying since last year that three basic boxes will need to be checked for a government funding deal to pass the Senate and make it to the president’s desk,” said Mr. McConnell, citing military and domestic funding parity and the removal of legislative “poison pills.”
Democrats hope that providing funding until March 11 will give lawmakers enough time to find a bipartisan compromise.
“We are close to reaching a framework government funding agreement, but we will need additional time to complete the legislation in full,” said Ms. Delauro.
President Biden and Democrats are pushing for a bipartisan budget deal that will let them boost funding for agencies and programs. Democrats say such a deal is the only way they can make their mark on the federal government.
Currently, the federal government is still operating with funding levels approved by Congress under former President Trump. Abiding by Trump-era budget levels has hamstrung efforts to move Mr. Biden’s agenda through the federal bureaucracy.
“You have a limited window on a budget, and you never know what’s going to happen in 2022,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat. “If we don’t get a budget now, there’s a chance President Biden will never do a budget with the Democratic Congress.”
But any budget deal will likely need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster in the evenly split Senate.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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