Live updates: Schumer says deal reached to avert government shutdown. Congress to vote today
WASHINGTON – Congress is slated to vote Thursday on a short-term funding extension for the federal government and to avert a shutdown at midnight.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday evening that he’d reached agreement to consider the bill with a series of three amendments. The Senate has five roll call votes on the measure scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EST.
“We are ready to move forward,” Schumer said.
If the Senate approves it, the House would vote later in the day to send the measure to President Joe Biden. The House is also scheduled to vote on an infrastructure bill, which has splintered the Democratic Caucus as lawmakers negotiate a larger package of social welfare programs.
The short-term funding bill would keep the government operating until Dec. 3, to give lawmakers more time to approve funding for the fiscal year that starts Friday. The bill also provides $28.6 billion for disaster assistance and $6.3 billion for Afghan refugees.
Rep. Steny Hoyer not confident infrastructure bill will pass
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he isn’t confident the infrastructure bill scheduled for a vote Thursday will be approved.
The bill approved in the Senate is on the calendar, but lawmakers are still working behind the scenes on it, he said.
Asked if he was confident if it would pass, he replied: “Nope.”
– Bart Jansen
Nancy Pelosi: $3.5T budget bill ‘culmination of my service in Congress’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is thinking about legacy this week as her time with the gavel winds down and Congress considers a $3.5 trillion bill that contains much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
“I just told the members of my leadership the reconciliation bill will be the culmination of my service in Congress,” Pelosi told reporters during her weekly press conference.
Pelosi was referring to the $3.5 trillion measure, which includes a number of liberal initiatives such as subsidized caregiving and childcare, pre-kindergarten and community college. Democrats are trying to pass the bill using a process called “reconciliation,” which would allow the Senate to approve the bill without Republican support.
Pelosi has said 2020 would be her last term as speaker.
– Rick Rouan
Sen. Dick Durbin: Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin ‘had their chance’
Sen. Dick Durbin expressed frustration on Thursday with fellow Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have opposed a broader $3.5 trillion bill of social welfare initiatives because they say its price tag is too large.
“They’ve had their chance. They’ve made their case,” said Durbin of Illinois. “They should close this deal. Too much is at stake with this to just be hanging on. We may be at a point where it’s difficult to close the deal.”
Both Manchin and Sinema have been meeting with White House officials in recent days about the bill, a wide-ranging package that includes much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
“After weeks of this, there comes a point where, if you want to leave your mark on this process, now’s the time to do it,” he said
– Savannah Behrmann and Rick Rouan
Sen. Chuck Schumer confident funding bill gets approved to avert government shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted the Senate and House would approve a short-term extension of government funding Thursday to avert a potential shutdown at midnight.
Senate votes will begin at 11:05 a.m. EST. Republicans will offer three amendments. If passed, the bill would then go to the House.
“I’m confident the House will approve this measure later this afternoon and send it to the president’s desk before funding runs out. This is a good outcome,” Schumer said. “With so many things to take care of here in Washington, the last thing Americans need is for the government to grind to a halt.”
– Bart Jansen
Mitch McConnell: Democrats have ‘accepted reality’ on government funding
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Democrats will be able to extend government funding because they are following a Republican road map, with aid for disasters and Afghan refugees, rather than including an increase in the debt limit.
“We are able to fund the government today because the majority accepted reality,” McConnell said.
But McConnell lamented the lack of funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense program.
“It honestly baffles me that defensive aid to our ally Israel has become a thorny subject for the political left,” he said.
– Bart Jansen
Cotton, Marshall, Braun offer amendments to funding bill
Amendments to the funding bill the Senate will take up Thursday include:
- Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., proposed to modify the eligibility of Afghan refugees for benefits in the United States.
- Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, proposed to prohibit federal funding for COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
- Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., proposed to block congressional pay after Oct. 1 in any year when the budget and spending bills aren’t approved.
– Bart Jansen
Congress also faces big decisions on infrastructure bill, debt limit, budget bill
Approval of the short-term spending bill is one of four thorny problems facing Congress in the next few weeks. The other challenges deal with the debt limit, infrastructure and a major package of social welfare programs.
Democrats had tried to approve the funding in combination with an increase in the country’s borrowing authority. But Senate Republicans blocked those moves, to force Democrats to raise the debt limit on their own.
Time is running out on the debt limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress the country’s borrowing authority will be exhausted by Oct. 18.
– Bart Jansen
Pelosi: Infrastructure bill vote is still on for now, despite opposition from progressives
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday morning the bipartisan infrastructure vote was still on for later in the day.
“That is our plan,” Pelosi said.
This comes just hours before the vote, where the speaker is facing big opposition from progressives within her caucus who want to delay passing the legislation until a separate $3.5 trillion budget spending bill is also voted on.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed confidence to reporters Wednesday night she had the votes to tank the legislation.
Jayapal and other progressives are worried about their leverage with the larger package that includes many progressive domestic priorities. They do not believe House moderates will keep their word in voting for the larger budget bill at a later date if they’ve already passed the smaller bill.
Asked about the insurmountable opposition, Pelosi repeated what she said Wednesday night, that she is taking it “hour by hour.”
– Savannah Behrmann and Rick Rouan
House set to vote on bipartisan infrastructure bill
The House is scheduled to vote Thursday on one of the largest public works bills in history at $1.2 trillion, which includes $550 billion in new spending.
But debate on the popular bill has been held up because of negotiations over a $3.5 trillion package of President Joe Biden’s social welfare priorities.
The conflict is between moderate House Democrats who want a victory on infrastructure while negotiations continue on the larger package, and progressive Democrats, who want both bills to move in tandem.
In the narrowly divided House, if Republicans unify in opposing both bills, the loss of four Democrats could kill either bill.
A group of nine moderates negotiated for a Monday vote on the bill, which slipped to Thursday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., repeated Wednesday that she wants both bills to move together. But she also said the vote would occur as planned. At the end of the day, she said she was taking things “one hour at a time.”
“The plan is to bring the bill to the floor,” Pelosi said.
But Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said dozens of progressives would oppose the infrastructure bill on its own. She said contentious remarks Wednesday from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would drive more opposition to the bill.
Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have been negotiating to reduce the $3.5 trillion price tag on the larger package. Manchin issued a statement Wednesday that it would be “fiscal insanity” to approve that much spending while government programs such as Social Security and Medicare aren’t fully funded.
“That’s a shame,” Manchin said of a possible rejection of infrastructure. “That’s the best bill you got. It’s the most important thing we have.”