09/20/2019

House Passes Stopgap Spending Bill

The bill will extend existing agency funding through Nov. 21

Yesterday, the House passed a “clean” short-term spending that would fund the government through late November, putting off any tussle over President (Donalda) Trump’s border policies until later in the year. The Senate is expected to clear the bill next week; Trump is expected to sign it.

House progressives initially debated whether to support a continuing resolution that does not address the Trump administration’s diverting military funds to border projects, but will now let that debate play out in the weeks to come. The bill passed by the House will extend existing agency funding through Nov. 21, averting the threat of a government shutdown on Oct. 1 when current funding runs out.

If passed by the Senate and signed by Trump, the short-term CR will give Congress time to complete the 12 annual spending bills for fiscal year 2020. None of the FY2020 spending bills have reached the Senate floor, and there are several partisan fights bogging down the negotiations, including the border wall funding issue, which caused a 35-day government shutdown last winter. Trump’s recent moves to divert billions of dollars from various military projects to his border projects has set the stage for another prolonged debate about the border wall.

“All the Democrats are asking for is to protect the troops from having their resources robbed for a border wall, resources that Congress said should go to the military,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said this week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) accused Democrats of blocking support for the military over “long-standing disagreements with Trump.”

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.