The House on Tuesday passed stopgap legislation to keep the federal government operating past this weekend, sending the bill to the Senate days before the deadline without any of the deep spending cuts conservative Republicans had sought.
Without new spending laws, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, forcing federal workers — including members of the military and airport security agents — to miss paychecks on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. The legislation extends funding at current spending levels for roughly 20 percent of the federal government until Jan. 19, and the remaining 80 percent until Feb. 2.
The “laddered” deadlines in the bill, called a continuing resolution or CR, are designed to allow the House and Senate to pass and negotiate full-year spending bills — though the two chambers are nowhere near an agreement on those — and avoid a massive year-end spending bill called an omnibus. It could still trigger two more standoffs that lead to partial government shutdowns early next year.
“This is an important innovation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday morning. “We have broken the fever. We are not going to have a massive omnibus spending bill right before Christmas.”
Funds would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, on Jan. 19. They would expire for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, on Feb. 2.
The bill passed the House under a process called “suspension of the rules,” which required two-thirds of the chamber to approve the measure because some far-right Republicans refused to allow it to proceed under a lower threshold without spending reductions.
Ninety-five lawmakers voted against the bill — four more than the number who voted against the continuing resolution on Sept. 30 that averted a shutdown and led to an effort from a small band of GOP lawmakers to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership role.
Without new spending laws, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, forcing federal workers — including members of the military and airport security agents — to miss paychecks on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. The legislation extends funding at current spending levels for roughly 20 percent of the federal government until Jan. 19, and the remaining 80 percent until Feb. 2.
The “laddered” deadlines in the bill, called a continuing resolution or CR, are designed to allow the House and Senate to pass and negotiate full-year spending bills — though the two chambers are nowhere near an agreement on those — and avoid a massive year-end spending bill called an omnibus. It could still trigger two more standoffs that lead to partial government shutdowns early next year.
“This is an important innovation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday morning. “We have broken the fever. We are not going to have a massive omnibus spending bill right before Christmas.”
Funds would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, on Jan. 19. They would expire for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, on Feb. 2.
The bill passed the House under a process called “suspension of the rules,” which required two-thirds of the chamber to approve the measure because some far-right Republicans refused to allow it to proceed under a lower threshold without spending reductions.
Ninety-five lawmakers voted against the bill — four more than the number who voted against the continuing resolution on Sept. 30 that averted a shutdown and led to an effort from a small band of GOP lawmakers to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership role.
