Congress tries to avert government shutdown
House passes one stopgap bill, two more plans to go
WASHINGTON — As a potentially catastrophic hurricane takes aim at the Carolinas, Congress is trying to head off a legislative disaster that could lead to a partial government shutdown weeks before the November elections.
The House on Thursday approved a $147 billion package to fund the Energy Department, veterans’ programs and the legislative branch. It came a day after the Senate passed the measure. The bill now goes to White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to sign it.
The 377-20 vote in the House came as legislative leaders also announced an agreement on a bill to fund the rest of the government through Dec. 7. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R- N. J., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the short-term plan would be added to a separate spending bill that lawmakers are negotiating to cover the Defense Department and labor, health and education programs.
The stopgap bill would not address Trump’s longpromised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. GOP leaders have said they prefer to resolve the issue after the Nov. 6 elections.
It was not clear whether Trump would back this approach, but a Republican aide said the White House had not indicated any immediate opposition.
The bill approved Thursday was the first of three spending measures Congress hopes to approve this month to avoid a government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. GOP leaders Kevin McCarthy, left, and Paul Ryan hope to keep government running past November elections. 1.
Passage of the bill was so important to Republican leaders that they moved up the Senate vote, citing the threat of Hurricane Florence bearing down on the southeast coast. The House and Senate adjourned for the week following the budget votes.
Approval of the spending bill was a marked departure from recent years, when Congress routinely ignored agency-specific spending measures in favor of massive packages that funded the entire government at once. Trump has said he would not sign another bloated bill.
The three plans, if passed by Congress and signed by Trump, would account for 90 percent of annual federal spending, including the military and most civilian agencies.
“This package is not perfect, but that is the nature of compromise,” said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Leahy said he was concerned the bill did not do enough to cover costs associated with a program that allows veterans to receive government-paid health care at private facilities.
Across the Capitol, Rep. Mark Walker said he and other conservatives were disappointed by the absence of policy add-ons that were in a House-passed version before negotiations with the Senate.
“House Republican priorities were shut out across the board,” said Walker, R-N.C. He said conservatives expect the next round of budget talks to reflect their policy priorities. If not, it will be “difficult to support this funding,” Walker said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., disputed Walker’s characterization.
“I think we got a great amount of victories for our members,” Ryan said.
Ryan said the bill includes money for veterans’ health care, military infrastructure, the electrical grid and nuclear weapons programs, and “represents a return to our most basic responsibility around here: passing appropriation bills.”
Lawmakers from both parties are wary of a government shutdown, which Trump has threatened unless he gets billions of dollars for the wall.
“We still are in favor of the wall, we still want to get funding for the wall, but we think the best time to have that discussion is after the election,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News last week.