House Passes Bill To Extend U.S. Federal Funding For A Week

The Democratic-led House passed a short-term spending bill Wednesday to keep government agencies funded at current levels through Dec. 23, giving lawmakers more time to craft a roughly $1.7 trillion appropriations package that would cover the full fiscal year, Kevin Freking reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: House Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the extension.

Congress faces a deadline of midnight Friday to pass the extension or allow for a partial government shutdown.

The bill would give Congress an additional week to reach a compromise and now goes to the Senate for a vote before it is sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The one-week extension passed by a vote of 224-201, mainly along party lines.

House Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the extension. Many complained it would allow Congress to pass a massive spending bill before a Republican majority would take charge of the House in January and impose its will on spending.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House, said Republicans earned the opportunity after the midterm elections to shape the spending legislation early next year. He called for an extension that would last into the first quarter of 2023.

“Allow the American people what they said a month ago — to change Washington as we know it today,” McCarthy said.

While Republicans will take the majority in the House, Democrats gained one seat in the Senate and will hold a 51-49 majority there in the next session. McCarthy said the two senators leading the efforts to craft the spending bill won’t be in Congress next year and thus won’t be accountable to voters for their work.

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., are both retiring. Leahy is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Shelby is the lead Republican on the panel.

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