Stopgap Continuing Resolution Passed by House Faces Challenge in Senate

On September 21, 2021, the House passed a stopgap continuing resolution (CR) that would fund agencies at their current levels for about nine weeks. Funding from FY 2021 expires on September 30, 2021, at which point a government shutdown will occur with additional appropriations or a continuing resolution. The stopgap bill would also provide disaster relief and additional aid for resettling Afghan refugees.

The bill now moves on to the Senate, where it will need bipartisan support to pass. However, the bill contains a measure to suspend the debt ceiling through 2022 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made clear suspending the debt ceiling is a non-starter for Republicans in the Senate.. Instead, Republicans recommended that Democrats use the reconciliation process to pass a separate spending measure and raise the borrowing cap. Reconciliation bills can pass the Senate by a simple majority of 51 votes or 50 votes plus the Vice President as the tiebreaker.

While Republicans believe they should not be forced to vote for increased spending, Democrats have claimed the priority is to avoid both a shutdown and default on U.S. debt. If the bill fails in the Senate, Democrats will have to restart the process of passing a CR. If a CR is passed, Democrats expressed confidence that they will be able to reach a compromise setting line-by-line appropriations for the rest of fiscal 2022 by December 3, 2021, when the CR would expire.

The House has passed nine of the required twelve spending bills for fiscal year 2022, including large spending increases for almost all federal agencies. The Senate has yet to vote on any of its’ spending bills thus far.

The CR would provide $28.6 billion for natural disaster response and $6.3 billion for resettlement of Afghan refugees.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) introduced an alternative continuing resolution Monday, September 21, 2021. The Republican measure would also continue funding the government at FY 2021 levels until December 2, 2021 and provide supplemental funding for disaster aid, Afghan assistance, and the Iron Dome to bolster Israel’s defense capacity.