Stopgap Spending Measure To Avoid Government Shutdown Agreed On

Government shutdown theater might be getting a curtain call before it really gets going for the 2021 season.

Washington Post:

House and Senate leaders on Thursday announced they had reached a deal on a bill to fund the government into mid-February, opening the door for lawmakers to narrowly avoid a shutdown entering this weekend.

The agreement on a new stopgap spending measure set the House on a path to vote before the end of the day, though swift action still seemed uncertain in the Senate, where some Republicans have threatened to grind the government to a halt as they protest President Biden’s vaccine and testing mandates.

Both chambers must pass identical bills by midnight on Friday to avert a shutdown. Lawmakers from both parties have warned that a failure to fund the government could be disruptive, especially at a time when the country is responding to a new, potentially more dangerous variant of the coronavirus.

“If there is a shutdown, it will be a Republican, anti-vaccine shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the chamber floor, touting the fact that the new funding deal carries broad bipartisan support.

Yet a crop of Republicans led by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) signaled Thursday they still aren’t yet willing to back down in their effort to defund federal agencies carrying out Biden’s vaccine and testing policies.

“Nothing is different today from yesterday,” said Marshall, describing the conservative blockade as an attempt to protect “jobs” and “national security.”

The new funding proposal, known as a continuing resolution, covers federal operations into February 18 — at which point lawmakers either must adopt another short-term deal or complete their work on roughly a dozen longer-term appropriations bills that fund the government for the remainder of the 2022 fiscal year.

Democrats and Republicans also included as part of the stopgap another $7 billion in assisting Afghan evacuees. But they generally did not address a slew of unresolved policy issued that they had hoped to tackle as part of the continuing resolution, a reflection of the tense talks that delayed a vote on government funding for days.

“While I wish it were earlier, this agreement allows the appropriations process to move forward toward a final funding agreement which addresses the needs of the American people,” said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), the leader of the House Appropriations Committee.

Trump appointed judges block Biden vaccine mandates for federal health care workers.

The top Senate Republican appropriator, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), later offered his blessings: “I’m pleased that we have finally reached an agreement on the continuing resolution. Now we must get serious about completing [fiscal year 2022] bills.”

Those fights entering February are likely to be fierce, as Democrats hope to deliver on Biden’s budgetary goals, spending greater sums in areas including health and education, while Republicans hope to whittle down those amounts and devote more resources to the Pentagon. Democrats and Republicans also have squared off on a host of policy items, including the fate of the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion — a provision Democrats hope to scrap despite unwavering GOP objections.