Congress agrees to short funding extension to avert shutdown

The House and Senate have passed legislation that would extend the current stopgap continuing resolution from Dec. 16 to Dec. 23, giving lawmakers more time to negotiate a final spending deal to fund the federal government and stave off a shutdown.

The House passed the measure Wednesday voting 224-201 and on Thursday the Senate did the same with a 71-19 vote.

Senior Democrats and Republicans say they have agreed to a “framework” for a fiscal year 2023 appropriations omnibus package but need more time to hash out details, including spending toplines, which have not yet been released.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has pledged Congress will remain in session next week and will “work around the clock” to finalize the omnibus.

News of the framework follows efforts from House Republicans to scuttle the short-term CR in favor of a longer extension that could maximize their leverage when the GOP has a majority in the new year.

“This one-week continuing resolution is an attempt to buy additional time for a massive lame-duck spending bill in which House Republicans have had no seat at the negotiating table,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said in a statement.

The framework, meanwhile, is more popular among Republicans in the Senate, who mostly support it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said this week he backs the framework but cautioned that much work remains.

“It means the hard work can finally start,” he said on the Senate floor. “It will take seriousness and good faith on both sides to produce actual legislation that follows this framework. Poison pills, especially far-left demands to overturn longstanding and commonsense policy riders, will need to stay far away from this process.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), speaking on the Senate floor, called the framework a “roadmap for funding the government before the conclusion of the 117th Congress -- something the majority, the large majority of us, want to see."