House, Senate OK one-week spending deal

Trump signs measure hours before shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday approved a one-week spending measure that avoids a government shutdown, providing lawmakers with extra time to finish negotiations on a long-term spending package. President Donald Trump signed the measure with just hours to spare before the shutdown deadline at midnight.

But House Republicans left the Capitol with their goal of voting to repeal the 2010 health care law still eluding them, and Trump, who will conclude his first 100 days today, without a marquee legislation achievement.

The measure approved Friday, known as a continuing resolution, sustains government operations at current funding levels through next Friday. By that point, congressional leaders hope to have passed a $1 trillion spending package that will cover the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

“A continuing resolution is never anyone’s first choice for funding the government,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “However, this is our best path forward.”

Democrats largely went along with the stopgap measure, though not without registering their complaints about the process.

“I think it’s sad that we’re here at the last minute trying to kick the can down the road,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “This could have been avoided.”

The House approved the spending measure by a vote of 382-30, with Arkansas’ entire delegation of four Republicans backing the measure, and the Senate gave its approval with a voice vote. Congressional leaders expressed optimism that an agreement on the longer-term spending package was within reach.

“Today’s measure shows the American people that we are making a good-faith effort to keep our government open,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. “While this is not ideal, I support this effort to provide our colleagues with more time to reach a final agreement on legislation to fund the government through the fiscal year.”

Meanwhile, negotiations moved ahead on the longer-term spending bill, which would fund the day-to-day operations of virtually every federal agency. Most of the core decisions about agency budgets have been worked out, but unrelated policy matters — such as a Democratic request to help the cash-strapped government of Puerto Rico with its Medicaid burden — are among the sticking points.

Trump backed down from his demand that money be included for the wall he wants to build along the border with Mexico. And anti-abortion lawmakers steered clear of even attempting to use the measure to try to cut off federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

The White House also said it would continue to make subsidy payments to insurers under the health care law. That assurance satisfied Democrats who wanted the spending agreement to ensure that the subsidies — which lower deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income consumers — would continue to be funded.

Republicans also are pressing for policy victories on blocking environmental regulations such as former President Barack Obama’s sweeping expansion of the Clean Water Act. But Democrats, whose votes are needed to pass the measure, are pushing back.

Democrats praised a $2 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health — rejecting steep cuts proposed by Trump — as well as additional funds to curb opioid abuse and fund Pell Grants for summer school. A provision extending health care for 22,000 retired Appalachian coal miners and their families had yet to be finalized, though it’s a priority of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va.; and other coal-state lawmakers.

HEALTH BILL’S FUTURE

Final negotiations on the long-term spending package played out this week as House Republican leaders tried to round up the necessary votes to move ahead on the repeal of the health care law.

Some White House officials had hoped a vote on a revised House bill to repeal the law would take place before today.

“I would love to have had the vote in the first 100 days,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

But Meadows noted that the health care law had taken much longer to be put in place. “If it takes another couple of days, then so be it,” he said of this year’s repeal bill, adding that he would be “extremely disappointed” if a vote were not held next week.

This week, the revised bill won the backing of the Freedom Caucus, which received much of the blame for the demise of the House’s earlier repeal bill in March, a legislative catastrophe for Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin.

The Freedom Caucus was won over by an amendment

allowing states to obtain waivers from certain insurance requirements of the health care law.

But the revised bill has drawn opposition from a sizable group of moderate Republican members, and House Republican leaders opted not to hold a vote on the measure Friday.

Still, Republican leaders are hoping enough of their colleagues can be persuaded to get on board with the measure as a result of the new amendment.

“I anticipate the members reading through it this weekend, and as soon as possible, we will bring that bill to the floor,” said the House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

Some moderate Republicans worry that the insurance waivers would allow states to gut protections for consumers. But Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., said they were seeing “demons in the dark,” and argued that governors would not take actions that hurt their own constituents.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, chairman of the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, said he was eager for House Republicans to send the bill to the Senate.

“I’ll stipulate that it’s not

perfect, but the next step needs to be taken,” he said. “People have expected us to do this for a long time, and it is something that we need to get done.”

In the meantime, Democrats could at least take comfort in the difficulty that Republicans have had in rounding up the necessary votes.

“Let us begin by being thankful that we’re not going to do great harm to our country this week,” McGovern said on the House floor.

But he offered a word of caution: “Now, there’s always next week.”

The struggle over both bills was with Republican control of the White House and both chambers in Congress. Yet it’s proving an uphill fight for Republicans to make good on seven years’ worth of promises to repeal and replace Obama’s health care law.

“I’m disappointed that it doesn’t go quicker,” Trump said of his interactions with Congress, in an interview on Fox News Channel.