The Senate passes the third continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown

The Senate on Thursday approved the third continuing resolution for fiscal year 2024 to avoid a partial government shutdown planned for midnight Saturday.

Both houses of Congress have failed to fully pass any of the twelve appropriations bills needed to fund the government, which has necessary a series of continuing resolutions to maintain funding at enacted levels for fiscal year 2023. The Senate approved the third resolution for the year by a vote of 77 in favor to 18 against, sending it to the House of Representatives for final approval.

The resolution authorizes government funding through March 1 for the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and all other government departments will be funded through March 8. Administration, water developments and military construction projects by the Department of Defense.

Today we will vote on a continuing resolution in an effort to avoid a government shutdown. The threat of which is damaging and disheartening to our country and our constituents.
Leaders on both sides must do everything they can to prevent these ongoing threats to hardworking Americans. pic.twitter.com/rorkc47m27

— Senator Cory Booker (@SenBooker) January 18, 2024

In addition to authorizing government funding, the resolution addresses various issues such as the reauthorization of public health programs, child and family programs, and efforts to counter drone-based national security threats, as well as delay legal cuts to Medicaid payments.

The continuing resolution was not introduced as a stand-alone bill, but was offered as a substitute amendment to the Law to modernize the permanent electronic seal of duck, which was approved by the House on September 20 to modify the way waterfowl are hunted. These provisions were not included in the new version of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer he wrote Tuesday that the CR will “avoid a shutdown and give Congress the time needed to finish our work to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has, too indicated who strongly supports the measure.

Among Republicans, the proposal has been grudgingly supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a reversal of his position in December for not presenting to the House another continuing resolution for the rest of the fiscal year.

“With completion deadlines looming, a short continuing resolution is needed to complete what House Republicans are working hard to achieve: an end to omnibus governance, meaningful policy wins, and better stewardship of taxpayer dollars. American taxes,” he said in one Press release Sunday.

“The law firm of Schumer, McConnell, Johnson & Jeffries has not served Republicans (or Americans) well,” said Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. he wrote at X, formerly Twitter.

“Do NOT vote on any spending bill without tough border security provisions. The continuing resolution (CR) does not contain such language. Demand an amendment to be added to the CR. If it's denied, vote it out!” he wrote in an additional tweet.

“We're gathered today, once again, to kick the can down the road … to continue spending money not individually instead of appropriations, not with any accountability for the money that's being spent, but just to continue spending,” Republican Sen. Rand Paul. of Kentucky told the Senate before the bill passed. “At the rate we're spending the money, we'll have accumulated $34 trillion in debt. We're accumulating debt at the rate of a trillion dollars every three months…$5 billion every day, over $220 billion per hour, nearly $4 million every minute and over $62,000 per second.”

Later, for to vote 13 to 82, the Senate defeated an attempt by Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to send the resolution back to the appropriations committee and replace it with a bill to fund the government throughout the fiscal year.

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