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(The Hill) – The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a short-term funding measure needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week, though not every lawmaker in the upper chamber was in support.
The vote was 77 to 19, with all 19 in opposition part of the Republican Party.
The Senate Republicans who voted no include Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Ted Budd (N.C.) Ted Cruz (Texas), Steve Daines (Mont.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Rand Paul (Ky.) Pete Ricketts (Neb.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), and J.D. Vance (Ohio.)
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), all did not vote on Tuesday.
Smith announced earlier Tuesday she tested positive for COVID-19.
The vote sets the Senate up to pass a continuing resolution (CR) later this week, which it could then send to the House to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1. If the Senate can pass a CR later this week, it could put pressure on the House to bring it to the floor as the lower chamber struggles to make progress on its own.
The Senate’s CR would fund the federal government until Nov. 17, while providing around $6.15 billion in funding for Ukraine and $5.99 billion in disaster assistance.
The Senate’s vote indicates Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are mostly on the same page in looking to avert a government shutdown, which would suspend numerous government services and furlough thousands of government workers.
Schumer called the bill a “bridge” to allow negotiators more time to debate a longer-term deal on government.
“Senate Democrats and Republicans, together, worked in good faith to reach an agreement on a continuing resolution that will keep the government open beyond Sept. 30,” Schumer said on the floor Tuesday.
Meanwhile, infighting within the House GOP has prevented the chamber from agreeing to a short-term funding measure, as a handful of hard-line Republicans have vowed to oppose a CR in an already narrow GOP majority.
In a concession to conservative House members, House Republicans advanced four of the 12 full-year spending bills in a 216-212 vote Tuesday night. Conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was the only GOP “no vote.”
The vote handed McCarthy a small win after being met with conservative opposition to advance full-year spending measures. While the advancement of the four bills themselves does nothing to avert a shutdown, McCarthy and allies hope to build enough goodwill with conservatives to change their minds on voting for a short-term funding bill.
