Congress punts government shutdown to Dec. 3

The House and Senate voted today to pass a stopgap continuing resolution that would keep the federal government funded through Dec. 3, thus avoiding a midnight shutdown.

The CR now goes to the Oval Office for President Biden’s signature.

The House voted 254-175 to pass the CR a short while after the Senate passed it 65-35.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said the bill would continue funding for education, health, housing, and public safety programs, as well as $28.6 billion to assist survivors of recent disasters and $6.3 billion to support Afghan refugees.

“I look forward to soon beginning negotiations with my counterparts across the aisle and across the Capitol to complete full-year government funding bills that reverse decades of disinvestment and ensure government is looking out for the middle class, working families, and small businesses,” she said in a statement.

The House passed its own CR last week, but could not win the support of Senate Republicans, who opposed a measure it contained that would suspend the federal debt limit until December 2022. The CR Congress passed does not address the debt limit, which covers spending lawmakers have already approved.

Congress, meanwhile, has until Oct. 18 to extend the debt limit or the federal government will default.