House to Vote on Stopgap Bill to Avert Shutdown

September 6, 2019 Focus Washington Administration

The House will vote next week on plans to pass legislation aimed at preventing a government shutdown after September 30, yet another step to avoid a repeated shutdown.

The chamber will take up the stopgap funding measure the second week they return to Washington from the August recess, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in a Thursday letter to the caucus.

“The week of September 16th, I expect the House to consider a clean continuing resolution to fund the government past September 30th,” Hoyer wrote to Democrats.

The move was expected, Politico writes, as the Democratic leadership has been considering a short-term bill for the past few weeks while trying to negotiate a larger spending package with the Senate. Hoyer already floated the idea of a continuing resolution that would fund the government until November 22, before the Thanksgiving recess.

It is unclear for now whether Senate GOP will agree to a stopgap measure, especially as it does not include a single additional dollar for President Donald Trump’s border wall, currently a priority in the funding talks.

The Senate would have about two weeks to either take up the bill or propose an alternative of its own to keep the government open after the end of the month. House Democrats already passed a majority of spending bills to fund the government before leaving town for the August recess.

But no appropriations bills have been taken up by the Senate yet, indicating that Congress will most likely have to take up a short-term bill.

Republican Senators have considered passing several full-year funding bills, which Democrats have opposed arguing that there is not enough time as the House leaves for the Jewish holidays after only 13 days.

“I am disappointed that the Senate failed to introduce a single appropriations bill for the first time in more than three decades,” Hoyer continued. “As we wait for them to complete their work so that we can begin conference negotiations, a continuing resolution will be necessary to prevent another government shutdown like the one we experienced earlier this year.”