Congress scrambling to avert shutdown as plan unveiled to fund government into February
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By Daniella Diaz, Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, CNN
Congressional leaders unveiled a plan Thursday that would keep the federal government funded into mid-February, but it’s unclear if the deal would be enough to avoid a rapidly approaching government shutdown on midnight Friday.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, announced the latest plan, which would go through February 18, and the House is expected to vote as soon as Thursday, though the real issue for quick passage is in the Senate. The only way to avoid a shutdown is for all 100 senators to agree to schedule a vote before the deadline, and some Senate Republicans have threatened to hold up the bill over President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates.
LIVE UPDATES: Tomorrow is the deadline to avoid a government shutdown
While lawmakers are confident that they can ultimately prevent a prolonged shutdown, a brief shutdown over the weekend, or extending into next week, remains a possibility.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also said negotiators had reached a deal, though it was unclear as of Thursday morning if the agreement meant that all 50 members of the GOP conference supported quick passage.
“I’m pleased that we have finally reached an agreement on the continuing resolution,” Shelby said. “Now we must get serious about completing FY22 bills. I have said many times that work can only begin if we agree to start FY22 where we finished FY21. That means maintaining legacy riders, eliminating poison pills, and getting serious about the funding we are going to provide for our nation’s defense. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll be having this same conversation in February.”
Separate from the vaccine issue, Democrats had wanted to extend funding only into January, a concession DeLauro acknowledged in her statement.
“To build pressure for an omnibus, the CR includes virtually no changes to existing funding or policy (anomalies),” DeLauro said in the announcement. “However, Democrats prevailed in including $7 billion for Afghanistan evacuees. The end date is February 18. While I wish it were earlier, this agreement allows the appropriations process to move forward toward a final funding agreement which addresses the needs of the American people.”
This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.
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