Washington — The House voted Tuesday to keep the federal government funded through December, moving to prevent a shutdown as the campaign season enters its final stretch before the November midterm elections.
The short-term, bipartisan government funding bill cleared the Senate in early August, just before senators left for a five-week recess. At the time, the House had already departed for its extended summer break. Lawmakers returned Monday, and GOP leaders moved quickly to bring the measure to the floor under a fast-track process that required a two-thirds majority for approval. It passed 370 to 48.
Under the measure, federal funding will now run through Dec. 11, pushing the next deadline to more than a month after the midterm elections, when voters will determine control of the House and Senate for the next two years.
The stopgap bill comes after months of work on the annual appropriations process. Since April, the House Appropriations Committee has advanced all 12 spending bills needed to fund the federal government, though only three have passed the full House. In the Senate, the process has moved more slowly, with none of the funding bills advancing 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.
GOP Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was doubtful that the extension would provide enough cushion for Congress to pass full-year legislation.
“The Senate has wasted the entire year and a half. They have not passed a single bill,” he said Tuesday, blaming Senate Democrats. “There’s no excuse for not having a single one done.”
Cole suggested that there will either be a yearlong stopgap measure to break the impasse in December, or a 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.