U.S. Congress Averts Government Shutdown Before November Elections With Budget Extension

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to keep the federal government funded through the period leading up to November’s legislative elections. The resolution passed 370-48 and now goes to President Donald Trump, after the Senate approved it last month.

Lawmakers faced a deadline at the end of September, when the fiscal year was due to close. They wanted to avoid another funding interruption during the election campaign, following shutdowns that had already disrupted the government the previous autumn.

The previous fall brought an unprecedented 43-day shutdown after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on renewing a tax credit that reduced the cost of health coverage bought through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. A subsequent shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security lasted 76 days. Congress eventually funded much of the department, but not its immigration enforcement operations.

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We’re going to avoid the threat of another shutdown caused by Democrats.

Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the recent impasses. Before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, “We’re going to avoid the threat of another shutdown caused by Democrats.”

Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would provide “security to the nation and to our constituents, the security that the government will continue to operate and that our military will be paid.” Democratic appropriations leader Rosa DeLauro urged her colleagues to support the bill, saying the Senate’s version had improved substantially from the House proposal passed earlier in the summer.

DeLauro pointed to provisions blocking the Department of Homeland Security from transferring funds to the Border Patrol and delaying a proposed rule that would give Trump administration political appointees more power to withhold federal grants from programs they considered inconsistent with the president’s agenda. Those changes were added when the Senate approved its version.

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This provides security to the nation and to our constituents, the security that the government will continue to operate and that our military will be paid.