Politics

House Passes Its Third Short-Term Funding Bill In 5 Months As Lawmakers Race To Avoid Shutdown

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Andrew Trunsky Political Reporter
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The House of Representatives Tuesday passed a short-term government funding bill in order to avert a shutdown set to take effect in 10 days.

The continuing resolution is the third passed since October. It funds the government through March 11, which top lawmakers say should be enough time to agree on an omnibus funding package for the rest of the fiscal year.

It passed 272-162 with 51 Republicans joining nearly every Democrat in support, and cleared the House immediately after lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the largest overhaul to the United States Postal Service in decades.

Though lawmakers praised that there would not be a shutdown, they acknowledged that the short-term bill, like the ones the House passed in late September and early December, was not ideal. Without a new bill for the fiscal year, funding levels largely remain as they were during former President Donald Trump’s final year in office.

“The American people deserve the certainty that comes with a full-year funding bill,” Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said on the floor ahead of the vote. “The transformative investment that omnibus provides will create good-paying jobs. [It] will expand access to child care and strengthen our public schools and make college more affordable and help small businesses.” (RELATED: Congress Passes A Stopgap Funding Bill Hours Ahead Of Catastrophic Shutdown)

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro talk to reporters about the state of government funding negotiations. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republicans also praised the continuing resolution, noting that a shutdown would be catastrophic.

“No one wants to have a C.R., but the alternative is much worse,” said Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger, the Appropriations Committee’s ranking member. “If we don’t pass a C.R. … we could have an unnecessary and costly government shutdown. I think both sides agree that would be disastrous, especially for our national security.”

With the bill’s house passage, it now heads to the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to advance to President Joe Biden’s desk. If signed, it would avoid a government shutdown that would take place amid the pandemic and the ongoing threat of a Russian invasion into Ukraine.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also praised the passage of a short-term bill, but said that passing an omnibus package was critical in order to tap into trillions of recently allocated federal dollars from passed legislation like the National Defense Authorization Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

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