House adopts 1-day stopgap bill to prevent government shutdown

The House moved swiftly Sunday night to pass a one-day extension of government funding — a last-minute cushion to prevent a government shutdown while the chambers slog through the final steps of passing a much larger coronavirus relief package on Monday.

The 24-hour buffer was needed after negotiations on the broader spending bill stalled Sunday over a handful of stubborn disagreements, preventing the drafting and release of the final package.

The bill later quickly passed the Senate and President Trump signed the stopgap bill just before the midnight shutdown deadline.

With the clock ticking toward midnight — and a government shutdown — House Democratic leaders announced their one-day continuing resolution, or CR, to buy Congress more time to move the legislation through both chambers and move it to President Trump’s desk this week.

Their announcement arrived just as leaders in both chambers announced that an agreement on a broader package had also been cemented.

“I’m pleased we have reached an agreement on COVID-19 relief and an omnibus, which I expect we’ll pass tomorrow and send to the Senate,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) tweeted. “In order to provide time to prepare the bill for consideration, the House will meet at 6:30 p.m. to consider a one-day continuing resolution.”

The House Rules Committee is expected to meet Monday morning to adopt the guidelines governing the floor debate on the package, which combines roughly $900 billion in emergency coronavirus relief with more than $1 trillion to fund the government through next September.

The rules package will also include a multiday CR — somewhere in the neighborhood of seven days, though the number is not final — to allow for the logistical complications of adopting such an enormous bill, particularly during the holidays.

The House is expected to send the legislation to the Senate on Monday afternoon, and leaders in both parties are hoping to move it quickly to Trump’s desk. It remains unclear, however, if there will be any objection to that fast-track strategy, which could delay the process further.

— Updated 11:50 p.m.