Congress extends budget
OKs fix through Jan. 19
The Republican-led Congress voted Thursday to approve a stopgap budget extension that will keep the federal government running through Jan. 19.
The 231-188 House vote broke largely along party lines as the Republican majority sought to avoid the black eye of a partial government shutdown so soon after their victory on tax reform.
Bucking their parties, 16 House Republicans voted no, while 14 Democrats supported the bill.
Then, on Thursday night, the Senate followed suit with a 66-32 vote that included just enough Democrats — largely from Republican-leaning states — to pass the 60-vote threshold.
The government’s current funding had been set to run out 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Although the measure only keeps the government operating for less than a month, the votes were viewed as a victory for Republican leaders who’ve had a hard time in the past passing spending bills without significant Democratic support.
“We’ve gotten some really, really historic big things done,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told The Post.
What passed was the third iteration this week of the contentious measure, which some Republicans threatened not to support because it did not fund the Department of Defense through the rest of the fiscal year.
The approved version includes $673.5 million to fix the USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald, which both crashed in the Pacific over the summer due to crew errors, and $884 million for ballistic-missile defense seen as integral in the face of a nuclear North Korea’s saber-rattling.
Also included was $2.85 billion to re-up the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health-care matching funds to moderate-income families that do not quality for Medicaid.
A separate bill authorized $81 billion in disaster-relief money for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and several states.
President Trump took to Twitter ahead of the vote to chide Democrats and whip up support.
“House Democrats want a SHUTDOWN for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts. House Republicans, don’t let this happen. Pass the C.R. TODAY and keep our Government OPEN!,” he wrote.