The House is postponing completion of work on an eight-bill spending package to fund the government in 2018 amid some lawmakers’ eagerness to return home as Hurricane Irma nears the U.S., The Hill reports.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced on the floor Thursday night that lawmakers will clear the Senate-passed fiscal deal and then delay for the week by early Friday afternoon.
“As we continue to track Hurricane Irma, I know many of our members in the southeastern United States are anxious to get home to get their families and constituents,” McCarthy noted.
The 2018 package is not expected to be taken up by the Senate or become law, but House GOP leaders want the chamber to finish its work on annual appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
Lawmakers have close to 200 amendments to the 2018 spending package left to consider before final passage. The House will send a three-month stopgap government spending bill, debt limit hike and aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey to President Donald Trump on Friday.
Lawmakers will then have the opportunity to debate some of the remaining amendments to the 2018 spending measure after the House finishes voting for the week. Votes on the amendments themselves will be delayed to next week.
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