Congress avoids shutdown by passing 1-week stopgap
Health care battle could hinder long-term budget
WASHINGTON — Congress voted overwhelmingly Friday to keep federal agencies open for another week, defying President Donald Trump’s desire for action on both a border wall and health care legislation by focusing on what lawmakers viewed as the greater priority — avoiding a government shutdown.
But the sense of accomplishment may be short-lived: With several unresolved differences remaining, lawmakers planned to work through the weekend to finalize a longer-term deal that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year in September.
“We’re willing to extend things for a little bit more time in hopes that the same sort of progress can be made,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday morning.
Meanwhile, White House and conservative House Republicans continued to press for a health care vote as early as next week, which could threaten budget talks just as it did this week.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., plans to continue working to persuade skeptical Republicans to back a health care revision that he helped author. Meadows said Friday he will push for a vote as soon as next week.
“If it takes another couple of days, so be it,” Meadows told reporters. “I don’t think it has to be voted on next week; I certainly would be disappointed if it weren’t.” On Friday morning, proponents of the measure continued to press for support.
House GOP leaders said late Thursday that there would be no vote on health care legislation Friday, despite the efforts of Meadows and the White House. Leaving a 90-minute meeting in the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the main focus of the huddle was to ensure that the one-week funding bill would pass.
“We’re still educating members,” he said. “We’ve been making great progress. As soon as we have the votes, we’ll vote on it.”