The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed, by a vote of 267 to 151, a six-month spending bill that would fund the government through September 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. This continuing resolution is necessary to extend authorization for government spending beyond the current deadline of March 27.
The $982 billion stopgap measure locks in the across-the-board sequester cuts for the remainder of the year, but includes protections for defense and veterans programs to allow flexibility to manage the cuts brought on by sequestration. The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to make changes to further soften the impact on spending cuts of non-military programs.
House Democrats had wanted to be allowed to vote on an alternative that would replace the sequester with a mixture of higher taxes and different spending cuts. However, the sequester remained in place, and 137 Democrats voted against the bill, which was sponsored by Republican leaders. Fifty-three Democrats joined 214 Republicans in voting for it. Fourteen members did not vote.
With only about three weeks left before the current funding act expires, both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said they are engaged in talks with the House counterparts on a strategy that could allow Congress to wrap up work on fiscal year 2013 appropriations by the March 27 deadline.
Senate Majority Leader Reid, who said he was “cautiously optimistic, ” said the Senate will move on its own government funding bill next week. The Senate funding bill is being crafted by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Mikulski said previously she wanted to offer a full omnibus as an amendment to the CR, attaching the other 10 unfinished 2013 appropriations bills that cover non-defense government programs.
There appears to be bipartisan optimism that a final version of the bill will clear Congress by the end of the month, making a government shutdown unlikely. “There seems to be no interest on either side in having a kind of confrontational government shutdown scenario,” Senate Minority Leader McConnell said. Congress is scheduled to leave for a two-week recess scheduled to start March 25.
