House passes bill to extend government funding for 1 week

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-led Home handed a short-term spending invoice Wednesday to maintain authorities companies funded at present ranges by means of Dec. 23, giving lawmakers extra time to craft a roughly $1.7 trillion appropriations package deal that may cowl the total fiscal yr.

Congress faces a deadline of midnight Friday to go the extension or permit for a partial authorities shutdown. The invoice would give Congress a further week to achieve a compromise and now goes to the Senate for a vote earlier than it’s despatched to President Joe Biden to be signed into legislation.

The one-week extension handed by a vote of 224-201, primarily alongside social gathering strains.

Home Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the extension. Many complained it could permit Congress to go an enormous spending invoice earlier than a Republican majority would take cost of the Home in January and impose its will on spending.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican chief within the Home, stated Republicans earned the chance after the midterm elections to form the spending laws early subsequent yr. He referred to as for an extension that may final into the primary quarter of 2023.

“Permit the American folks what they stated a month in the past — to alter Washington as we all know it immediately,” McCarthy stated.

Whereas Republicans will take the bulk within the Home, Democrats gained one seat within the Senate and can maintain a 51-49 majority there within the subsequent session.

McCarthy stated the 2 senators main the efforts to craft the spending invoice received’t be in Congress subsequent yr and thus received’t be accountable to voters for his or her work. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., are each retiring. Leahy is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Shelby is the lead Republican on the panel.

“It’s nonetheless not even obtainable for anybody to learn and but they need the flexibility to deliver that up on the eve of Christmas.” Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2-ranking Home Republican, stated of the $1.7 trillion package deal. “It’s an indication that Congress did not do its job.”

Nonetheless, many Senate Republicans are conscious that delaying negotiations into January units up the type of collision course that might result in shutdown, they usually worry the GOP would find yourself taking the blame.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the highest Republican within the Senate, has made the case that passing a full-year spending invoice this Congress is best than the alternate options as a result of it ensures a large enhance in spending for protection.

“If a very bipartisan full-year invoice with out poison capsules is prepared for last Senate passage by late subsequent week, I’ll assist it for our Armed Forces,” McConnell stated Wednesday. “In any other case, we’ll be passing a short-term persevering with decision into the brand new yr.”

Shelby has stated the 2 events have been about $25 billion aside on total spending, although they’re in settlement on spending about $858 billion on protection. Lawmakers introduced Tuesday night time that they’d reached settlement on a “framework” that ought to permit negotiations to be accomplished by subsequent week, however they offered no particulars.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chair of the Home Appropriations Committee, urged colleagues to vote for the extension. She stated the ultimate spending invoice being negotiated “will assist hold our nation and our communities protected with the understanding that all of us deserve.”

The ultimate invoice can also be anticipated to incorporate the Biden administration’s request for one more $37 billion in assist to Ukraine in addition to different bipartisan priorities, together with an election measure designed to stop one other Jan. 6 rebel. The invoice would make it harder for lawmakers to object to a selected state’s electoral votes and clarify that the constitutional position of the vp within the proceedings is solely ministerial.