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Writer's pictureStaff @ LPR

House to vote on short-term funding extension, avoiding government shutdown

The House plans to vote on a continuing resolution as lawmakers race against another deadline to avoid a partial shutdown.


The short-term extension would fund some government agencies through March 8, and the remaining agencies until March 22.


Congressional leaders announced the deal Wednesday evening, saying they "are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government."

This agreement sets up a vote on six of the 12 annual spending bills before the end of next week, which was deemed necessary to allow the appropriations committees "adequate time to execute on this deal in principle" and give lawmakers time to review the package.


Congress would then have two more weeks to pass the other six spending bills to fully fund the government until September.


The government has repeatedly been on the brink of a shutdown since the end of last September and has had to rely on short-term extensions, known as continuing resolutions, to keep the government operating.


If Congress does not approve the next extension before time runs out Saturday, funding for transportation, housing, agriculture and veterans programs will run out. Funding for other agencies, including the Pentagon, lapses on March 8.


House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, proposed the latest plan after an "intense" meeting at the White House on Tuesday with the president, vice president and other congressional leaders. Lawmakers left the meeting optimistic about averting a shutdown before the deadline at the end of this week.


The new deadlines raise the pressure on the House to pass spending legislation amid Republican divisions over spending. Johnson, overseeing a narrow House majority, has therefore had to rely on Democrats to pass the continuing resolutions that have funded the government in recent months.


The White House supports the latest funding plans, saying Wednesday it "would help prevent a needless shutdown while providing more time to work on bipartisan appropriations bills and for the House to pass the bipartisan national security supplemental as quickly as possible."

 

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