The US Congress is getting close to passing a bill that would keep the government funded for 45 days, after Republican leaders decided to bypass far-right members so they could avoid triggering the first government shutdown in four years.
In an overwhelming 335-91 vote today, the US House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government funded at existing levels until mid-November. The bill now heads to the Democratic-led US Senate, which has until midnight tonight to avoid a shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halt key government services.
The breakthrough vote came after House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and his leadership team gave up on trying to placate far-right members who for weeks had refused to back any short-term funding deal, even bills with spending cuts and border security changes. Republicans feared a failure to pass any funding bill would leave them taking the majority of the blame for a shutdown.
The "clean" continuing resolution that passed in the House does not include $6bn in supplemental emergency aid to Ukraine, representing a departure from a bipartisan funding package in the Senate. But the bill would extend for three months the authorization of the US Federal Aviation Administration, avoiding potential disruptions to its programs.
McCarthy was able to hold a vote on the funding bill because of strong support from Democrats, who offered 209 votes compared to just 126 votes from Republicans. The overwhelming bipartisan support allowed the bill to pass using a fast-tracked process, bypassing a typical procedural hurdle where only a handful of Republicans could have blocked consideration of the bill.
Absent a deal by midnight, there will be a disruption to government services for energy and agricultural companies, along with a halt to key work on federal regulations, permitting and contracting.
President Joe Biden has mostly avoided wading into the negotiations on a short-term funding bill, as he insisted that Republicans stick to a funding deal that was part of a debt limit agreement earlier this year. The White House has yet to issue a formal statement of policy on the House-passed bill.
