The bill would keep the government open on a short-term basis until March 1, when the first of two funding deadlines will hit. The second will be on March 8.
The Senate voted Thursday to pass a bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend and keep federal funds flowing through March 1 and March 8.
The Democratic-led chamber voted 77-18 on final passage after considering a few amendments.
The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled House, which is hoping to pass it later Thursday and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk before funding expires Friday at midnight.
It’s set to be brought up on “suspension,” a process that allows the bill to be fast-tracked but requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
It is the third stopgap bill since last September as the divided Congress struggles to agree on full-year government funding bills.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled House, which is hoping to pass it later Thursday and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk before funding expires Friday at midnight.
It’s set to be brought up on “suspension,” a process that allows the bill to be fast-tracked but requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
A recent deal between Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on how much to spend in the new year has renewed hope of completing the process by the new early March deadlines.
Schumer inveighed against “a loud contingent of hard-right rabble-rousers who thinks a shutdown is somehow a good thing."
“In the twisted logic of the hard right, the theory is if enough people feel the pain of a shutdown, the hard-right can bully the rest of Congress into enacting their deeply unpopular agenda,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday morning.
“We need just a little bit more time on the calendar to allow that process to play out,” Johnson told reporters, saying he’s “very hopeful” that Congress can pass all 12 measures.
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