The House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution that will provide federal funding through Dec. 16, with a government shutdown less than twelve hours away.
The resolution passed mostly along party lines 230-201, with ten Republicans joining all 220 Democrats in supporting it. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday, 72-23, and President Joe Biden will sign it later Friday afternoon.
“With the many challenges facing our nation and the world, including devastating natural disasters, and the high cost of living, we cannot wait any longer to pass this bill. This bill guarantees that we have the means to continue the important work we are doing to help middle class and working families with the cost of living, support vulnerable Americans by keeping roofs over their heads of millions of families and food on their tables,” House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said in a floor speech.
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The continuing resolution includes $12.3 billion in aid to Ukraine, as well as $2.5 billion to support New Mexico’s wildfire recovery and $20 million to support Jackson, Mississippi’s, water infrastructure. It also includes more than $18 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Relief Fund. Congress did not include the Biden administration’s request for more than $22 billion to combat COVID-19 and more than $4.5 billion to combat monkeypox.
Seventy-seven House Democrats threatened to block the resolution and shut down the federal government if the Senate included West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin’s Energy Independence and Security Act in its version of the bill. Manchin pulled his proposal Tuesday after he failed to gather support from 60 senators. (RELATED: Will Democrats Screw Over Joe Manchin?)
“The inclusion of these provisions in a continuing resolution, or any other must-pass legislation, would silence the voices of frontline and environmental justice [EJ] communities by insulating them from scrutiny. Such a move would force Members to choose between protecting EJ communities from further pollution or funding the government,” the Democrats wrote in the letter.