Congress just averted a government shutdown this weekend. The new deadline is just a week away.
Lawmakers moved quickly to avert a weekend government shutdown just hours after unveiling a deal they hope will also allow Congress to fully fund at least part of the government next week.
With a tally of 320-99, the House of Representatives passed the brief six-page bill Thursday afternoon. The Senate followed with their own vote of 77-13 in the evening and sent it to the White House. President Joe Biden signed it Friday, the White House said.
But it will be far from the end of the story.
This week's move is intended to buy more time for the ongoing negotiations, but it only pushes some of the funding deadlines up by a single week. It also sets up what could be an intense showdown on March 22 over some of the thorniest issues.
"Look, the appropriations process is ugly, democracy is ugly," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday morning.
But the movement on yet another short-term deal does ensure that President Biden's State of the Union address, as well as Super Tuesday voting, won't take place next week under the cloud of a partial government shutdown.
An agreement to fund at least part of the government
Wednesday night's deal between top congressional leaders and appropriators includes an agreement in principle on six of the 12 bills that are needed to keep all the government's doors open for the entire fiscal year.
"We are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government," read a joint statement from Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and others.
Getting agreement on that portion of funding — for wings of the government from the VA to the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation, and more — is a significant step and now appears to have a path to passage. But it will face a tight timeline in the coming days to be enacted before yet another shutdown deadline in just eight days.
"That bill text is going to be posted this weekend," Speaker Johnson promised Thursday, adding that getting the bills formalized with enough time for his members to review it is "the only reason we need a process CR."
But even if things go smoothly next week, Congress then turns to the remaining six bills that will be due on March 22.
This is where things could get even rockier, as those outstanding measures represent some of the most controversial areas of the government like the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and even the White House itself.
Conservative House Republicans are eager to attach a host of so-called policy riders to those bills, which they say are crucial for any deal — from defunding Planned Parenthood to reducing the salary of the Homeland Security secretary to $0. Democrats are set to reject those ideas out of hand.
And throughout the process to come, Speaker Johnson will have to contend with a restive right flank that has grown increasingly unhappy and often pushes a shutdown over compromise.
"A shutdown is not the ideal thing, but it's not the worst thing," said Rep. Bob Good (R.-Va.) during the final debate Thursday afternoon.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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