Senators on Thursday passed a short-term spending bill that moves Friday’s government shutdown deadline to next week, giving negotiators more time to patch together a larger funding deal for fiscal 2023. The Senate voted 71-19 to pass the continuing resolution (CR), sending the legislation to President Biden for approval. The legislation passed the House Wednesday on a vote of 224-201.
The bill freezes funding levels through Dec. 23, and appropriators on both sides of the aisle have been working to pass an omnibus spending package by the end of the month, with sights set on final passage by Christmas Eve. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) acknowledged Thursday that there’s still “a lot of work to do” on a broader spending deal.
“No drama, no gridlock, no government shutdown this week,” he said on the chamber floor as voting began.
A group of Republicans joined Democrats in passing the spending bill on Thursday. However, others in the GOP have pushed against a one-week CR in favor of a stopgap bill that would kick the funding deadline into the new year to give their party more influence on how the government should be funded for fiscal 2023, which began in October. Senate Appropriations Committee member Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who voted against the CR, told The Hill ahead of the vote that he would have only backed the measure if it moved the deadline into next year (The Hill and The Washington Post).
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