House votes to extend government shutdown deadline by seven days

WASHINGTON – House lawmakers voted Wednesday night to approve a short-term spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown Friday and give Congress another week to finalize a spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year.

The vote sent the so-called continuing resolution to the Senate, which could take up the legislation as soon as Thursday.

The House and Senate currently have until 11:59 p.m. Friday to hammer out an agreement on future spending.

The stopgap measure passed the Democrat-controlled House 224-201. 

Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and Steve Womack (R-Ark.) were the nine Republicans who voted with Democrats in favor of the continuing resolution, defying GOP leadership. 

Of those nine, only Womack and Fitzpatrick will serve in the next Congress.

Six representatives, three Republicans and three Democrats, didn’t vote. 

The House vote came almost exactly 24 hours after retiring Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Republicans and Democrats had reached a ”bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the president.”

“If all goes well, we should be able to finish an omnibus appropriations package by Dec. 23,” agreed lead Republican negotiator Richard Shelby of Alabama.

However, the details of the plan have not yet been finalized or made public.

The roughly $1.7 trillion omnibus package includes the proposed $858 billion Pentagon budget on which Republicans and Democrats came to a consensus last week. Most disagreements over the framework involve spending on domestic programs.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday he supports coming to an agreement on a full-year funding bill before Christmas, but added that Republicans won’t hesitate to delay the vote until the new year should Democrats not be willing to cut back on domestic spending.

While both GOP and Democratic leaders in the Senate have said approving a spending plan through Sept. 30, 2023 would be the best outcome, House Republicans on Wednesday held a press conference decrying attempts to push an omnibus vote before the new year. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted Congress should instead pass a short-term extension to respect the will of voters who put Republicans in charge of the House in 2023.

“A month ago, the American people voted for a new direction in Washington,” he said. “We’re 20 days before the new members are being sworn in [and] we’ve got two members leading appropriations in the Senate who will no longer be here [in the new Congress] or be able to be held accountable to the constituents.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) agreed in a Twitter post Wednesday, criticizing McConnell for his support of coming to a bipartisan agreement before the new Congress takes over.

“Republican voters fought hard hard to win back control of the House to take away insane spending control from the Democrats,” she said. “Mitch McConnell is on the verge of taking away House Republican’s power of the purse next year by making a dirty deal with the Dems to pass a Dem Omnibus bill!”

Some Senate Republicans, such as Rick Scott of Florida, agree with their House colleagues, calling on Congress to pass a different short-term resolution that would keep the government funded through next month rather than next week.

“When the new Congress convenes in January, Republicans in the Senate, along with a new Republican majority in the House, can begin the important work of building a real, balanced budget,” Scott said in a statement Tuesday. “Since we won’t be putting together a balanced budget in the next few days, the next best thing is a CR that rejects any new reckless spending.”

“It’s time to stop caving to Democrats and stand up for what the American people want in Washington: less government, less spending and more accountability,” he added.