Federal Government Avoids Shutdown; 45-Day Continuing Resolution Passes
The U.S. Congress faced a midnight deadline tonight to keep the federal government funded.
Back in May, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made an agreement to lift the debt ceiling. That deal pushed the debt limit expiration to 2025 and laid out the spending level framework for the 2024 fiscal year. In the months since then, the Appropriations Committees in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives have been tasked with negotiating the specific deals to fund government programs in the upcoming year. With split control of the Congress, bipartisanship is necessary in these negotiations. Neither party has the votes to do so entirely on their own.
And yet, McCarthy has spent the last week catering to the far-right extremists in his conference when trying to pass these individual appropriation bills. He argued that he needed to pass whatever earned the support of the majority of his conference before even starting negotiations with the Democrats in the Senate. However, McCarthy doesn’t have any room for error given the slim margin of his majority in the House of Representatives. In fact, several times this past week the majority failed to even approve the rules for debate on several of these measures.
Meanwhile, the Senate has moved all 12 appropriations bills through its committee. They earned the backing of both Democrats and Republicans in the chamber. Both sides of the U.S. Congress expected to fund the government through regular order this year instead of mounting an omnibus package like in years past. The argument was that it would allow individual members to record their votes on specific policies and agencies instead of the all-or-nothing approach of omnibus measures. However, procedural measures in the Senate - which can be prompted by a sole Senator - have delayed the final votes on all of these individual packages.
The federal government faced a shutdown at 12:01am E.T. on Sunday, October 1. The Senate recognized that a short-term continuing resolution was the only way the government could logistically remain open. As such, bipartisan votes were taken this way on a negotiated package. That deal kept the government open until November 17 by continuing funding levels from the 2023 fiscal year while providing billions of dollars in additional assistance for federal disaster relief programs and military support for Ukraine. That measure had the backing of over 70 Senators in every procedural vote taken this week.
McCarthy refused to put the bipartisan Senate deal up for a vote. He stood against any appropriations measure to keep the government open that included more money for Ukraine. In fact, he allowed multiple votes this week on amendments specifically targeting Ukraine support for removal from the overall process. Each failed. On Thursday night, a separate amendment to provide $300 million in assistance to Ukraine passed 311-117 with all “no” votes coming from House Republicans. That showcases broad support across the Congress for continuing to aid Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion.
This morning House leadership unveiled their own continuing resolution to keep the federal government open until November 17. The deal is similar to the Senate’s measure but has removed the Ukraine aid package and added pay raises to members of Congress. It passed the lower chamber with a 335-91 vote. Hours later, the Senate similarly approved the measure with an 88-9 vote. The bill is expected to be signed by Biden before tonight’s deadline at midnight - and thus keeping the government open for now.
Just like the debt limit deal this summer, the continuing resolution saw more Democratic support than Republican. The Democratic caucus in both chambers remains hopeful that a separate package providing additional military and humanitarian support for Ukraine will occur later this year.
By making this deal, Speaker McCarthy is now under threat of a motion to vacant the chair. Representative Matt Gaetz (FL-01) previously said that he would move to oust McCarthy as Speaker if he made a deal with Democrats. The Democratic Caucus remains skeptical about helping McCarthy avoid that fate - considering their caucus has largely been united all year long while the Republican conference grows more divided over the extremist and ever-changing demands of far-right members. It’s unclear if there is a viable option amongst Republicans that can obtain a majority of a full vote of the House to succeed McCarthy as Speaker though.