Senate advances bill to prevent shutdown this week past first hurdle

The Senate on Tuesday took the first step toward passing a bill to keep the government funded into March, as leadership pushes for final passage in the days ahead to prevent a shutdown this weekend.  

The upper chamber voted 68-13 to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to a vehicle for a two-step stopgap, also known as a continuing resolution (CR). The vote gets the stopgap measure over the first procedural hurdle, just days after both sides announced a deal to prevent shutdown over the weekend.  

Under the deal, which was unveiled Sunday, both sides agreed to extend funding for four of the 12 annual funding bills through March 1, while negotiators try to hash out new spending levels for fiscal 2024. That includes dollars for agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the departments of Agriculture; Energy; Transportation; and Housing and Urban Development. 

Lawmakers would extend funding for the remaining eight bills through March 8 under the deal, however. Agencies funded by those bills include the departments of Defense; Homeland Security; Labor; Health and Human Services; and Education. 

The two-tiered approach is similar to the strategy Congress used when it punted its last shutdown threat in November, as House Republicans push to avoid a massive omnibus funding package. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said ahead of the vote Tuesday that he’s hopeful “we can wrap up work on the CR no later than Thursday.” 

“The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan cooperation in both chambers. You can’t pass these bills without support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate,” he added. 

Schumer and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced a top-line agreement earlier this month setting a level for negotiators to work from when crafting the 12 annual funding bills. 

However, negotiators said last week that top appropriators were still working to find agreement on the allocations for each of the bills, making it harder for spending cardinals in both chambers to craft the funding bills.