Washington — The House voted Tuesday to keep the federal government funded through December, moving to prevent a shutdown as lawmakers head into the final stretch of campaigning before the November midterm elections.
The short-term, bipartisan government funding bill had cleared the Senate in early August, just before senators left Washington for a five-week recess. At the time, the House was already away on its extended summer break. After returning Monday, the House approved the measure Tuesday in a 370 to 48 vote, with GOP leaders speeding it to the floor under a process that required support from two-thirds of members for passage.
Federal funding is now scheduled to run out on Dec. 11, more than a month after voters decide which party will control the House and Senate for the next two years.
Since April, the House Appropriations Committee has moved all 12 annual spending bills needed to fund the federal government. Three of those measures have passed the full House. But the appropriations process has bogged down in the Senate, where none of the funding bills have advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“We want to get a longer-term deal, but at a minimum, let’s ensure that we can continue to see government properly funded and functioning,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday.
Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed skepticism that the new deadline gives Congress enough time to complete full-year spending legislation.
“The Senate has wasted the entire year and a half. They have not passed a single bill,” Cole said Tuesday, placing the blame on Senate Democrats. “There’s no excuse for not having a single one done.”
Cole warned that lawmakers may face two stark choices in December: pass a yearlong stopgap funding measure to resolve the impasse, or risk a government shutdown.
“We’re going to be in a crunch time,” he said.
Without a stopgap measure, the lack of progress meant a shutdown was all but certain after funding lapses on Sept. 30. In addition to its effects on everyday Americans, a shutdown could have scuttled lawmakers’ campaign plans. Congress is scheduled to be out of session for nearly all of October to allow members to be in their home districts to campaign.
The House initially passed a GOP-led bill in July to extend funding at current levels until Dec. 4. It passed with little support from House Democrats, who wanted restrictions on Border Patrol funding. The Senate later passed a bipartisan measure to punt the deadline to Dec. 11. That bill included several Democratic demands, including a provision that would close a loophole that Democrats said allowed the Trump administration to transfer funds to Border Patrol, and language that would temporarily prevent political appointees from canceling federal grants.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, encouraged Democrats to support the stopgap measure during their weekly caucus meeting Tuesday morning, according to Rep. Pete Aguilar of California.
“That’s a big statement from the ranking member,” said Aguilar, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
