The Senate on Thursday voted to pass a stopgap bill that would prevent a government shutdown ahead of a looming Friday deadline and will send it to United States President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted on a bipartisan basis to approve the measure, which is known as a continuing resolution (CR). The process extends government funding through Mar. 11. But now that the Senate has passed the measure, it can go to the next step of going to the president's desk. The Senate voted 65 to 27 in favor of passing the bill.
Government Shutdown
Furthermore, American lawmakers are working to lock in a broader full-year spending package but argued that the process needs more time to be completed. This means that the government needs a short-term funding extension to prevent the shutdown of the government at the end of the week.
The demands of Republicans in the Senate and the absences of several Democrats have threatened to complicate efforts to lock in a final vote. The situation brought action down to the wire as the Feb. 18 deadline approached, as per CNN.
With the stopgap bill, lawmakers are hoping that the federal government would have enough funding through Sept. 30. Appropriators announced earlier this month an agreement on a framework for a long-term spending package.
The next shutdown is expected to come after three weeks, and lawmakers are still required to negotiate spending details before then to prevent a government shutdown. If not prevented, these shutdowns could lead to furloughs of some federal workers and certain services could be suspended.
CNBC reported that since September, Congress has kept the funding of the government going on with the use of several stopgap measures. Continuing resolutions have frequently been used in recent years when lawmakers cannot agree on full-year spending plans.
Stopgap Bill
The repeated use of a stopgap bill comes after Republicans considered allowing the government to shut down over arguments related to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Previously, several GOP members signed a letter where they pledged to pull support from government funding legislation. The group was led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and threatened to let the government crumble.
In a statement last month, Roy said that he and his colleagues were "going to find out" whether the Republicans will band together and not support to fund the mandates. He added that many GOP members believed the requirements were tyrannical and foolish.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Biden administration has "unilaterally imposed'' five COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Furthermore, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ruled that businesses that employed at least 100 workers must require their workforce to get vaccinated or get tested weekly.
Workers were also required to wear face masks while at the workplace, decisions that were struck down by the Supreme Court at the beginning of January. The court ruled that OSHA lacked the authority to impose such a mandate to businesses and employees, Fox News reported.
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