The House of Representatives, with a 326-96 vote, passed Thursday a stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep the federal government funded until April 28, 2017. The Senate must still approve the spending bill today as current federal government funding runs out at midnight. As the House has finished their work for the year, members headed home for the holidays. The 115th Congress will convene on January 3.
The CR is bogged down in the Senate where coal state Senate Democrats blocked swift action on the bill over benefits for retired miners. Democrats want a long-term solution to extend health benefits to retired coal miners further than the four month extension of the coverage in the CR.
The continuing resolution keeps most government agencies operating at 2016 levels, but boosts defense spending by some $6 billion on an annualized basis to keep up with U.S. military commitments overseas as well as another $4.3 billion for the State Department and USAID. The CR also provides $4.1 billion in new disaster relief and reconstruction money to take care of damage from hurricanes, floods, and severe drought, plus $170 million to address drinking water problems including the lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan.
House and Senate leaders had been debating whether to extend the new CR through March or April. Senate leaders had preferred April because Senators will be tied up with handling confirmations for Trump’s long list of executive and cabinet nominees. In addition, keeping the government operating until April 28 buys enough time for President-Elect Trump to get this team up and running before Congress resumes its budget fights.
The House-passed bill includes a provision that would clear the way for retired Marine Corps. General James N. Mattis to be Trump’s secretary of defense, despite the fact that he left the military in 2013. Law requires at least seven years to have passed before a retired member of the military can take over at the Pentagon.
