The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a continuing resolution (CR), the fourth this fiscal year, to avert a government shutdown one day before it would have occurred.
Funding for the federal government for the current fiscal year was required to be passed by Sept. 30, but amid a failure to pass 12 appropriations bills by then, a CR was enacted on that date, with two more following it to extend the shutdown deadlines to March 1 and March 8 for different departments. Another CR was passed to extend the deadlines to March 8 and March 22, respectively, by a vote of 320 yeas to 99 nays. (RELATED: House Leaves Washington Without Passing Spending Bills Ahead Of Government Shutdown Deadline)
“We knew finding common ground would not be easy, but we’ve made progress and need a few more weeks to finish drafting the bills,” Republican Rep. Kay Granger, the chairwoman of the House Appropriation Committee and the bill’s sponsor, said on the floor of the House during a debate on the bill. “In the meantime, we cannot afford a harmful government shutdown.”
Extension of Continuing App… by Daily Caller News Foundation
Conservative opponents of the CR attacked it during a debate on the floor, which was advanced to ensure the House could adjourn on Thursday and enable members to return to their home districts on Friday. Opposition to the bill was bipartisan, with 97 House Republicans voting against it, joined by two Democrats.
“Here we are again: kicking the can down the road and for other purposes. To buy more time to spend more money that we don’t have,” Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said. “We’re going to continue to spend money at the Nancy Pelosi spending level, in the omnibus bill, that Republicans roundly oppose. That’s what’s happening on the floor [of the House] right now … that is a level that will continue, by the way, to fund all the priorities that we oppose!”
CRs do not authorize new spending programs, but continue to fund the government at levels authorized in the last completed appropriations process. The last spending levels enacted were under the Democratic-led 117th Congress.
“Watching House Republicans is like watching a football team whose best play is the punt and the block,” Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said during the floor debate. “Here we gather to punt, yet again. Last I checked, the Republicans actually have a majority in the House of Representatives, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at our checkbook, because we are all too willing to continue the policy choices of Joe Biden and the spending levels of Nancy Pelosi instead of showing the will and the courage to say … [this] government has to be defanged.”
Some Republicans have demanded that Congress’ control over the appropriations process be used to negotiate with Democrats for conservative concessions on border security, one of their leading priorities. However, amid opposition from the Democratic-led Senate and the Biden administration, other Republicans have refused to support that approach so as to avoid a government shutdown.
“What is the legislative branch’s remedy to an executive branch that refuses to follow the law? It is to remove spending,” Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said.
Biggs also attacked House Speaker Mike Johnson for permitting the CR to reach the floor, saying “[o]ur leader, who said in November ‘We’re not going do any more short-term CRs.’ I’ve had it with him. This is the third one [under his leadership] … we just keep sending money.”
“What will happen this evening, today, after this passes? Will we stay here and work hard for another week to get the 12 bills done? … No, guess what we’re going to do this evening: everybody’s got their plane tickets. They’re sending us home early. Congratulations! You just moved the crisis down another week. Go home! Have a four-day weekend!” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said on the floor. “We’re going to let staff, a few members in the Senate and the House write this big bill, and you can take it or leave it next week. Gone is any semblance of regular order in this process. What we have is what the swamp always does.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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