Congress averts partial government shutdown with short-term funding bill

House lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown on Wednesday night after approving a short-term funding bill that will last through Dec. 23.

The one-week extension was approved in a 224-201 vote, with all congressional Democrats and nine Republicans voting in favor of it.

The short-term bill will give lawmakers one week to hammer out the details of a long-term spending bill of roughly $1.7 trillion dollars.

CONGRESS ACHIEVES ‘FRAMEWORK’ FOR OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Once a compromise is reached, the bill will go before the Senate for a vote, then to President Biden to become a law.

Overwhelmingly, Republican lawmakers oppose the short-term extension, complaining it would allow for a big spending bill to be passed just before Republicans take over the House, according to the Associated Press.

Republicans had pushed for a short-term funding bill to keep the government open through the middle of January, at which point the Republicans would seize control of the House and have more leverage on spending negotiations.

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House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., announced late Tuesday the framework that provides a path forward to enact an omnibus next week was in place, and now the appropriations committees from both the House and Senate will work to negotiate the details.

Her Senate counterpart, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said they worked with retiring Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., to achieve “a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the President.”