The House of Representatives just passed stopgap legislation to prevent the government from shutting down when funds expire on Friday by vote of 271-158.
The spending measure, known as a “continuing resolution,” will keep the federal lights on for three weeks, while congressional leaders and the White House hammer out a compromise package that can pass both the House and the Senate. This continuing resolution lost nearly 70 votes compared to the last stopgap, and could not have passed without Democratic support.
House conservatives staged a mini-rebellion over the CR, which they say doesn’t sufficiently slash discretionary spending, and doesn’t contain key Republican policy measures — including abortion restrictions and a rescission of funds to implement the health care law.
Overall, 54 Republicans broke ranks with GOP leadership and voted against the measure. A total of 85 Democrats voted for the measure. It is expected to pass the Senate late this week.
At his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects Democrats and Republicans to reach a compromise before this stopgap expires in mid-April.
“I think we’ll pass a short-term CR later in the week — the one that clears the House, I guess, tonight,” McConnell said. “And in all likelihood, as House Republican leadership has indicated, we’ll then negotiate a final agreement for the balance of this fiscal year.”
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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