Senate sends bill to avert government shutdown to Biden’s desk

Senators on Wednesday passed a short-term funding extension that will keep the government’s lights on until mid-December and will avert a preelection government shutdown days before the end-of-the-month deadline. 

The Senate voted 78-18 on the stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that will keep the government funded at current spending levels until Dec. 20, at which point it will spark a holiday fight during the lame-duck session.

The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

Passage of the CR comes after Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) initial plan — a six-month spending bill combined with a Trump-backed measure requiring proof of citizenship to vote — failed due to opposition from a number of Republicans. Johnson then resorted to plan B, which he negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

In the end, however, the short-term package advanced with little trouble as the House rushed to pass the bill Wednesday afternoon. The Senate had locked in a time agreement Tuesday night to expedite final passage after the House vote Wednesday.

“Americans can breathe easy that because both sides have chosen bipartisanship, Congress is getting the job done,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. “We will keep the government open. We will prevent vital government services from needlessly coming to a halt. We will give appropriators more time to fully fund the government before the end of the year. 

“And I’m especially pleased we’re getting the job done with some time to spare,” Schumer added.

The three-month package also includes $231 million for the Secret Service in the aftermath of the second assassination attempt against former President Trump. 

It’s the second day in a row Congress has acted on legislation aimed at beefing up Trump’s security. The upper chamber on Tuesday passed a bill via unanimous consent that requires the Secret Service to “apply the same standards” to determine how many agents should be used to protect the president, vice president, and those running for offices who are granted such protection.

Earlier Wednesday, the House passed the stopgap bill, 341-82, with every Democrat and 132 Republicans voting in favor. The vote was pushed up to Wednesday afternoon in order for lawmakers to leave Washington ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall in Florida. 

Johnson was forced to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, with two-thirds support of the chamber, after hard-liners threatened to block a procedural motion to advance the legislation through regular order. Conservatives and hard-liners have taken the opportunity to tank rule votes in order to express their dissatisfaction with various legislative efforts. 

Johnson’s initial six-month proposal saw opposition from several corners of the Republican conference. Defense hawks argued that six months without an increase in military spending would be harmful to national defense, while some fiscal hawks were opposed to any form of stopgap.

But one thing most agreed on was that a government shutdown ahead of November would be a major mistake. 

“While this is not the solution any of us prefer, it is the most prudent path forward under the present circumstances. As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice,” Johnson said when he and Schumer rolled out the plan Sunday. 

There are a number of items that were excluded from the funding package that drew the ire of lawmakers, most notably the Trump-backed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Trump had urged Republicans to shut down the government if Congress didn’t adopt some form of voting bill.

Also excluded was relief for parts of the country that have been hit hard by natural disasters in recent months. 

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) noted on the floor ahead of the vote that there was no assistance included to help victims of wildfires in Maui, and pressed that it needs to be a priority in the lame-duck session ahead of Dec. 20.

“They’re waiting for help, and the federal government has not come to their aid yet,” Schatz said. “They’ve lost loved ones. They’ve lost homes. They’ve lost businesses. They’ve lost livelihoods, and all they want is help and a little bit of hope to get their lives back to something close to normal.” 

The next funding fight will also take on a different shape depending on who wins in November. But either way, Republicans are hoping to avoid a massive omnibus spending bill right before Christmas. 

Johnson vowed that an omnibus will not happen — a bold declaration that would go against recent congressional history. He also said that minibuses — smaller packages that combine funding for some segments of government — also will not be tolerated.

“We have broken the Christmas omni, and I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition,” Johnson said. “We don’t want any buses. We’re not going to do any buses, OK?”