Senate Fails to Advance Stopgap Funding Bill as Shutdown Deadline Nears

WASHINGTON—The Senate on Sept. 19 failed to advance a House-passed bill to fund the government until Nov. 21, less than two weeks before a shutdown deadline.

The Senate failed to get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the bill. The vote was 44-48.

The government runs out of funding on Oct. 1 as the last day of the fiscal year is Sept. 30. The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would fund the government at current levels. It also includes $88 million in security funding for members of Congress, the executive branch, and Supreme Court justices in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Earlier on Friday, the House passed the measure in a 217–212 vote. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine),  joined 216 Republicans in support of it. GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) voted against the bill in protest against spending levels that they say are too high.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) alleged that the GOP stopgap funding bill would later be rescinded by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill to claw back $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasters.

“It cannot be tolerated. Why pass a budget if [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russell Vought can unilaterally rescind it,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Before the Senate vote, Republicans in the chamber blocked a competing Democratic stopgap bill in a 47-45 vote.

The Democratic proposal would extend enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year, and reverse Medicaid reforms enacted in Trump’s tax-cut-and-spending bill passed over the summer. It would also place limits on the Trump administration’s ability to claw back funding approved by Congress.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), appearing on the Senate floor before the votes, called the Democratic bill “a dirty CR laden down with partisan policies and appeals to the Democrats’ leftist base.”

The Senate is currently scheduled to recess next week because of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. This means that senators won’t return until Sept. 29—one day before the shutdown deadline.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Republicans were considering recessing through the rest of September, a move that would essentially force the Senate to approve the House-passed measure or risk a shutdown.

Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Sept. 17, Johnson said that Republicans are trying to go through the usual process of funding the government through appropriations, but more time is needed.

“We’re now forcing the mechanism of a conference committee. …When you have the House and the Senate with the same bills that don’t match exactly, you get a subset of people in those areas of jurisdiction who go into a room and work it out; that’s how the system is supposed to work,” he said.

“So, we’re going to do that again. We’re moving forward productively, but the concern is that we’ve run out of [time] to finish that process. We need a short-term, very clean continuing resolution to keep the government open so our appropriators can continue to do their work.”

Democrats from both chambers have opposed the GOP bill, saying Republicans did little to consult them in drafting the legislation.

“The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis. At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums,” said Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a Sept. 16 statement.

In March, Schumer voted for a GOP-led continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, while Jeffries voted against it. Schumer had come under fire from other Democrats for supporting it.

Johnson has criticized Democrats for being against the short-term measure.

“We’re just trying to keep the lights on. And they’re trying to insert this as a sort of last-ditch effort to regain their footing because the party is reeling right now,” he said on CNBC, referring to Democrats wanting to insert an extension of Obamacare premium subsidies into the funding bill.