Congress passes one-week stopgap funding bill to stave off shutdown

Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The Senate passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday night that will keep the government running until Dec. 23 while lawmakers dash to finalize a omnibus spending package before the end of Congress with the new year.

Lawmakers passed the continuing resolution 71-19, after the House approved it 224-201 a day prior, with President Joe Biden expected to sign it before the Friday deadline.

Congress approved the measure to stave off a government shutdown for at least a week after bipartisan lawmakers on Tuesday announced that they had a framework on a $1.7 trillion government spending package, the contents of which have not been released to the public.

It is expected, however, to match the $858 billion military allotment Senate lawmakers approved ahead of voting on the continuing resolution.

"We haven't had a single government shutdown during the entire 117th Congress and thanks to this week-long extension today we're not starting now," Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said from the Senate floor. "Today's one-week continuing resolution will keep the government open long enough to give our appropriators a chance to finish their work on a year-long funding package."

The continuing resolution, he said, was the responsible move for Congress to take to ensure they finish the year with minimal drama.

"Next week, hopefully, we'll pass the package to keep the government funded until next fall," the New York Democrat said. "Nobody will get everything they want, but the final product will include wins everyone can get behind."

While Senate moved the deadline, negotiations continued on the omnibus package, which some House Republicans had called to delay voting on until the new year when they take a majority in the branch under the 118th Congress.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah had similarly put forward an amendment to the continuing resolution to move the deadline to pass the omnibus package into the new year.

Sen. Leahy Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chair of the appropriations committee, rebuked the notion, calling for lawmakers to be allowed to do their job.

"We have a bipartisan, bicameral framework in place -- let's have the courage to sit and vote it up and down. Don't keep kicking the can down the road," he said.

Lee's amendment was rejected as one as one from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to cut funding to the IRS.