US House passes stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown until 11 December

The House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the US government open until 11 December. The move averts an immediate shutdown but defers a bitter spending fight until after the campaign stretch.

In Short

• The House approved the measure by 370-48 after Senate clearance
• The extension funds federal agencies at current levels through 11 December
• Lawmakers acted before September-end to avoid another disruptive campaign-season impasse

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a short-term funding bill to keep the federal government running until December 11, in a move aimed at avoiding a shutdown as lawmakers campaign for re-election. The bill was passed 370-48 and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature after already being approved by the Senate.

Lawmakers had to act before the fiscal year ends in late September to prevent a funding lapse. Both parties were keen to avoid another disruption during the campaign season after a series of long shutdowns and funding standoffs over the past year, even as wider differences over government spending remain unresolved.

Republican Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would provide stability. “It gives the nation and our constituents certainty, certainty that the government will remain open, certainty that our service members will be paid,” he said.

Lawmakers were wary of a repeat of last year’s record 43-day shutdown, which happened after Republicans and Democrats disagreed over renewing a tax credit that reduces the cost of health coverage bought through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. That was followed by a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security before lawmakers agreed to fund much of the department, but not its immigration enforcement operations. Both parties blamed each other for those deadlocks. Before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, “We’re going to avoid the threat of another Democratic shutdown.” After the vote, he said the House had delivered despite doubts over whether the Republican majority could overcome its own divisions. “We’re continuing to do the grown-up thing, get the job done,” he said.

Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, urged her party colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning to support the bill. She said it was much better than the version the House passed earlier this summer on a mostly party-line basis. She said the revised bill stops the Department of Homeland Security from moving funds to the Border Patrol and delays a proposed rule that would give Trump administration political appointees more power to block federal grants for programmes they believe do not match the president’s agenda. Those changes were made after the Senate passed its version of the bill.

Democrats said they were concerned the proposed grants rule could be used to divert money away from states led by Democrats. DeLauro said delaying it was an important first step, but added that more must be done to stop the policy from taking effect. “Whether a community receives disaster relief should not depend on who they voted for in the last election,” she said. The temporary bill keeps federal agencies funded at current levels through December 11 and gives lawmakers more time to negotiate a full-year spending plan, though that is expected to be difficult as Republicans push for hundreds of billions of dollars more for the military and cuts to most non-defence programmes, while Democrats insist on a bipartisan approach with equal treatment for domestic spending.

In effect, the House vote has pushed back the immediate threat of a government shutdown, while leaving the larger battle over full-year federal spending for later in the year.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends