The House passed a two-week continuing resolution Thursday, just one day ahead of its Dec. 8 deadline.
The Senate is now expected to take up the clean measure, which keeps the government funded through Dec. 22.
GOP lawmakers are looking to use the stop-gap measure to provide them with additional time to negotiate a long-term spending bill while allowing them to focus on other priorities like tax reform.
House conservatives are pushing to pass a one-year defense funding bill separately from the second longer-term continuing resolution ahead of Congress’ Dec. 22 deadline. They hope they can force Democrats to agree to higher defense funding without raising spending in other areas.
The defense bill would likely be paired with disaster relief funding and the Children Health Insurance Program fund to incentivize both parties to support the legislation. It’s unclear whether Republicans in the Senate are considering this tactic.
The House’s passage of the two-week bill follows President Donald Trump’s meeting on spending with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday afternoon.