House passes stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown
The S. House of Representatives passed a short-term funding bill on Tuesday that would keep the federal government running through December 11, a move aimed at avoiding a shutdown as lawmakers campaign for re-election. The bill passed by a vote of 370-48 and now moves to President Donald Trump for his signature, after having already been approved by the Senate.
Lawmakers had to act before the fiscal year ends in late September to prevent a funding lapse. Both parties were keen to avoid another disruption during the campaign season, following a series of prolonged shutdowns and funding standoffs over the past year.
Republican Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would provide stability. "It gives the nation and our constituents certainty, certainty that the government will remain open, certainty that our service members will be paid," he said.
The short-term measure funds federal agencies generally at current levels through Dec. 11.
The urgency stems partly from recent history. A record 43-day shutdown occurred last fall when the two parties disagreed on renewing an expiring tax credit that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. That was followed by a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security before lawmakers agreed to fund much of the department, but not its immigration enforcement operations. Both parties blamed each other for those deadlocks.
Before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, "We're going to avoid the threat of another Democratic shutdown." After the vote, he said the House had delivered despite doubts over whether the Republican majority could overcome its own divisions. "We're continuing to do the grown-up thing, get the job done," he said.
Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, urged her party colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning to support the bill. She said it was much better than the version the House passed earlier this summer. DeLauro noted that the revised bill stops the Department of Homeland Security from moving funds to the Border Patrol and delays a proposed rule that would give Trump administration political appointees more power to block federal grants. She called the delay an important first step, but said more must be done. "Whether a community receives disaster relief should not depend on who they voted for in the last election," she said.
Despite the stopgap measure, broader disagreements over spending remain unresolved. Republicans are seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the military while cutting most non-defense programs. Democrats insist on a bipartisan approach that treats domestic programs with parity.