Congress is now turning to floor voting on the regular appropriations bills. Image: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffEnactment of a temporary funding measure to prevent a partial government shutdown deferred, but did not resolve, deep divisions in Congress over funding for federal agencies and the employees working in them in the fiscal year now underway.
The House-drafted measure, in many ways is typical of such “continuing resolutions” by buying time for Congress to continue working on the regular 12 appropriations bills.
However, that came only after a standoff in the House between most Republicans there and about three dozen of the farthest-right members whose votes are needed to pass anything there with just GOP votes. Leaders brought up several bills with policy provisions and deep spending cuts designed to satisfy them, but even those did not go far enough for them.
Finally at nearly the last minute the leadership brought out a measure designed to pass on a bipartisan basis—which it quickly did there and in the Senate with just hours to spare—that continues funding until November 17 with few policy changes.
That measure did not fully satisfy many of those who voted for it—for example, by not including additional funding for Ukraine—but was viewed as better than the alternative of triggering the first partial government shutdown in nearly five years.
Congress is now turning to floor voting on the regular appropriations bills. The House has passed five and plans voting on two more this week, while the Senate could take up several this week, as well. However, the two chambers are far apart on those bills; that will leave many issues to be resolved in conferences between the two chambers.
The Senate measures have been bipartisan, with few policy riders and funding levels consistent with an outline set in the law enacted in the spring to defuse the debt ceiling crisis.
The House bills meanwhile have been strictly partisan, containing both spending levels and policy provisions designed to attract votes of that same bloc of members. For example, its measure covering general government matters would deeply cut the budgets of the IRS and financial regulatory agencies the bill funds, roll back telework to pre-pandemic levels and cancel the administration’s DEIA programs.
While it’s possible that both chambers will have passed most of those bills before the next deadline, it’s unlikely that all will have passed by then—and still less likely that bills will be in their final version.
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