House Passes Bill To Keep Government Running — For Now
The legislation now goes to the Senate. But health and food programs aren't in the clear — "laddered" deadlines included in the bill mean some programs are at risk of expiring in January or February.
The Washington Post:
House Passes Bill To Avert Government Shutdown, Sends To Senate
The House on Tuesday passed stopgap legislation to keep the federal government operating past this weekend, sending the bill to the Senate days before the 12:01 a.m., Saturday deadline. ... The “laddered” deadlines in the bill are designed to allow the House and Senate to pass and negotiate full-year spending bills — though the two chambers are nowhere near an agreement on those — and avoid a massive year-end spending bill called an omnibus. It could still trigger two more standoffs that lead to partial government shutdowns early next year. Funds would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 19. They would expire for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, on Feb. 2. (Bogage and Sotomayor, 11/14)
PBS NewsHour:
Most Americans Say It’s Unacceptable For Congress To Use Federal Shutdown As Bargaining Chip
The latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll finds that most of the American public has grown weary of political games on Capitol Hill. Three out of four U.S. adults say that it is unacceptable for members of Congress to leverage the threat of a federal closure during budget negotiations – a sentiment that held true for majorities across political parties. (Santhanam, 11/15)
