Jan. 17 (UPI) — The Senate overwhelmingly advanced a stopgap federal spending measure on Tuesday, setting up a final vote to do its part in preventing a government shutdown by the weekend.
The 68-13 vote on Tuesday was merely a procedural step but gave momentum to passing the two-step Continuing Resolution that would give Congress until March 1 and March 8 to pass a long-term spending package.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he expected the measure to pass before the Friday deadline following Tuesday’s vote.
“If both sides continue to work in good faith, I’m hopeful that we can wrap up work on the CR no later than Thursday,” Schumer said. “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.”
Congressional leaders hammered out the short-term agreement over the weekend that will give legislators more time to appropriate funds for different departments.
If the bill is not passed funding for the Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture and Department of Veterans Affairs along with others will expire on Friday with other agencies set to shut down on Feb. 2.
The measure is expected to face opposition from far-right Republicans in the House, which is set to take up the matter as soon as it clears the Senate.
Speaker Mike Johnson is expecting defections from the GOP Freedom Caucus members, meaning that he will need support from Democrats to pass the stop-gap spending bill, setting up a showdown that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Far-right Republicans have called for deeper spending cuts to any budget offer that would likely be rejected by the Senate and House Democrats.
