November 17, 2023
On November 14, 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives, led by recently elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), overwhelmingly passed a two-tiered Continuing Resolution (CR) that would extend temporary funding at current levels for some agencies until January 19, 2024, and for other agencies until February 2, 2024. The House of Representatives voted in favor of the CR by a measure of 336 in favor and 95 opposed. Of the 95 Representatives who voted against the CR, two are Democrats and 93 are Republicans.
Under the CR, funding for agencies dealing with agriculture, military construction/veterans affairs, energy and water, transportation, and housing and urban development would be extended until January 19th; and the remaining agency appropriations, for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Science, Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior and Environment, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the Legislative Branch and State and foreign operations, would be extended to February 2nd.
Speaker Johnson has faced pushback from some of his Republican colleagues, who had hoped for budget cuts and immigration policy reform to be conditions of any funding resolution.
While there are no budget cuts included in the CR, it also does not include President Joe Biden's request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel, border security, or other supplemental funding.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it must be passed and signed into law before midnight on Friday, November 17, 2023 to prevent a government shutdown.
As reported on Reuters.com, Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate have said they would try to quickly pass the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was quoted saying, "No drama, no delay, no government shutdown. That's our goal and we hope to have an agreement very soon."
Senator Jon Thune (R-SD) was also quoted, saying, "Right now, we're not seeing anything out there that would suggest that we couldn't process this fairly quickly."
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