Senate Passes Stopgap Measure Extending FY21 Funding, FY22 Appropriations on the Horizon
Erin Schaff | The New York Times
Congress approved on Thursday a measure to fund the federal government through March 11, under fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations and preventing a shutdown due to occur at midnight on Friday. The Senate passed the measure on an 65 to 27 vote, sending the bill to the White House for President Biden’s signature.
The measure passed with enough Republicans joining Democrats to extend government funding at the current level. Senate leadership agreed to vote on three amendments, though none ultimately passed.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) commented a shutdown would have been “useless, senseless.”
As FEDagent previously reported, the House of Representatives approved a continuing resolution (CR) to extend funding through March 11. While a broader spending package is also in the works, lawmakers require additional time to make final adjustments, resulting in another short-term funding extension to avoid the shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Wednesday that the Senate will hold a procedural vote on a stopgap bill on Thursday, to keep the federal government running until March 11 and avoid a shutdown.
“Before the end of the week, the Senate must come to an agreement to pass a short-term extension of government funding,” commented Majority Leader Schumer.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated Thursday morning that the Senate will pass a continuing resolution and end the government shutdown.
"It's a typical CR exercise. We'll have some amendments and then we'll pass the CR and the government won't shut down," Minority Leader McConnell commented as he left the Senate floor.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) told reporters Wednesday afternoon that bipartisan negotiators were close to an agreement on how to deal with a series of amendments to the funding bill. In his remarks, he said Republicans are seeking amendments that prevent the federal government from funding vaccine mandates. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) expressed their refusal to vote on the stopgap measure without an amendment eliminating funding for vaccine mandates.
In addition to the vaccine mandate, Republican lawmakers seek a vote at the majority threshold on the distribution of “crack pipes”–a rumor circulating that the federal government has set aside $30 million for the distribution of crack pipes after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a grant to address harm reduction.