House Dems pass short-term spending bill, punting shutdown

WASHINGTON» House Democrats passed a short-term spending bill Wednesday that would keep the government open through late November, punting a potentially brutal fight over President Donald Trump’s border wall until later this year.

The legislation would extend existing agency funding through Nov. 21, averting a shutdown on Oct. 1, when the federal government’s budget otherwise would run out.

The Senate is expected to approve the stopgap bill next week. The vote in the Democratic-run House on the bipartisan plan was 301-123.

The legislation was hung up for several days as House and Senate negotiators haggled over provisions sought by the White House that would ensure continuation of a multibillion-dollar bailout for farmers hurt by Trump’s trade war. Democratic leaders initially threatened to omit the provisions but backed off in face of a backlash from moderates in their own party who insisted farmers must be protected.

The resulting compromise includes language aimed at ensuring more transparency and accountability in the farm bailout program. At the same time, Democrats secured language boosting Medicaid payments for U.S. territories including Puerto Rico.

If passed and signed into law as expected, the so-called “continuing resolution” would give lawmakers more time to complete the 12 annual spending bills that must pass each year to replenish agency budgets and keep the government running. But that process is in disarray in the Senate, a state of affairs that was underscored Wednesday when Democrats blocked a procedural vote to begin consideration of some of the spending measures.

That followed days of partisan bickering as Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the holdup in the spending process.

Republicans claimed Democrats were blocking needed spending on defense and other programs because of their opposition to Trump’s immigration policies.

Democrats, on the other hand, said Republicans were the ones to blame because they were trying to direct billions of dollars toward Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Senior Trump administration officials are considering a plan to again divert billions of dollars in military funding to pay for border barrier construction next year, a way to circumvent congressional opposition to putting more taxpayer money toward the president’s signature project, according to three administration officials.