House Passes Bill to Avert Shutdown at End of the Week

CNN | By Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson and Daniella Diaz
 
The House voted Wednesday evening to pass a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week with funding currently set to expire on Friday at midnight. The vote was 224 to 201 with nine Republicans joining with Democrats to vote in favor.
 
The bill must now go to the Senate to be approved before it can go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The Senate could vote as soon as Thursday.
 
The stopgap measure will extend funding for another week – until Friday, December 23 – to give congressional negotiators time to finalize a broader, full-year government funding deal with new topline spending levels.
 
In a sign of progress, top negotiators announced Tuesday evening that an agreement had been reached for a framework that puts lawmakers on track to complete a sweeping full-year government funding package.
 
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said in a statement that he and ranking Republican member Richard Shelby and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro “reached 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.”
 
So far, however, negotiators have not provided many specifics about the agreement.

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