A government shutdown was averted on Wednesday when the House passed a short-term funding bill that will give lawmakers more time to come to a deal on spending for fiscal year 2023.
The legislation was passed in a 224-201 vote and will now head to the Senate, where it has to again be passed and then sent to President Joe Biden before midnight on Friday. Currently, the measure funds the government at current levels until Dec. 23.
Voting with the Democrats were nine Republicans, despite the GOP urging members to oppose the legislation shortly after it was released to the House. A notice was sent by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (LA) recommending Republicans to vote “no” on the bill.
The notice said the measure was an “attempt to buy additional time for a massive lame-duck spending bill in which House Republicans have had no seat at the negotiating table.”
Republicans who did not follow the notice included Reps. Adam Kinzinger (IL), Chris Jacobs (NY), Anthony Gonzalez (OH), John Katko (NY), Liz Cheney (WY), Fred Upton (MI), Steve Womack (AK), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA).
There is a split among Republicans when it comes to how the funding for the government should look. Some want to freeze the current levels of funding into next year, allowing the new House with a red majority to say how fiscal year 2023 should be funded.
When the next session of Congress begins, Republicans will have a projected 222-212 majority in the House, and a 49-51 minority in the Senate.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is expected to be the next Speaker of the House, spoke during a press conference on Wednesday, saying that the top appropriators in the Senate will both be retiring.
“We’re 20 days before the new members are being sworn in. We’ve got two members leading Appropriations in the Senate who will no longer be here or be able to be held accountable to the constituents,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy was talking about Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), both stepping down when their terms end in January.
“We should not move a short-term [continuing resolution] CR. We should move one further into the new year. Allow the American people what they said a month ago — to change Washington as we know it today. We can’t afford to continue to spend the way the Democrats have. The future generation cannot afford it as well,” McCarthy added.
Others like Rep. Chip Roy, (R-TX) called on the House to vote no, saying that the “American people” do not want spending to continue, and they showed as much when they voted red in the House in November.
However, Republican negotiators in the Senate and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) feel that support for an omnibus should be enacted sooner rather than later, with concerns around defense funding and national security rising.
McConnell said on Tuesday that they were “very close to getting an omnibus appropriations bill,” with a timeline of completion on Dec. 22.
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