Senate advances bipartisan plan to avert government shutdown

Senate leaders are moving ahead with a bipartisan stopgap spending plan that would keep the federal government open past the midterm elections, setting up negotiations with the House just weeks before a shutdown deadline.

The continuing resolution, unveiled Sunday by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Vice Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., would fund the government at current levels, with some exceptions, through Dec. 11. Existing funding expires at the end of Sept. 30, and a full government shutdown would begin Oct. 1 if Congress does not act.

The Senate is scheduled to hold an initial procedural vote Monday evening, with leaders aiming to pass the measure before the chamber leaves Washington for its August recess later this week.

Collins said the bill is “straightforward” and avoids “poison pills,” while making “necessary adjustments” for programs including SNAP and WIC nutrition assistance, disaster relief and national security. She called the proposal a “major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers.”

“This measure gives Congress the time we need to continue our work on bipartisan appropriations bills, which are always my strong preference for handling annual government funding,” Collins said.

The Senate bill differs from a House-passed stopgap measure approved before that chamber left Washington for its August recess. The House measure would fund the government into December, through Dec. 4 according to NBC News, and passed largely along party lines over Democratic opposition. The House is expected to return in late August or early September, leaving little time for the two chambers to resolve differences before the Sept. 30 deadline.

Murray called the Senate proposal a “much-improved CR to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown that no one wants.” She said it includes provisions absent from the House version and “rejects Trump’s frivolous war spending wish list.”

“Importantly, we closed the loophole in House Republicans’ CR that would have allowed the Trump administration to transfer funding provided for other programs to Border Patrol, which desperately needs reform, not more money,” Murray said.

Democrats had sought several changes to the House bill. One provision in the Senate version is designed to prevent the administration from shifting money allotted to other parts of Customs and Border Protection to Border Patrol. Another would temporarily block political appointees from implementing a proposed White House budget office grants rule that Democrats warn could allow the administration to cancel grants and “take even more federal funding hostage.”

Senate Democrats did not secure every provision they wanted. CBS News reported that one unsuccessful proposal would have sought to prevent the administration from using so-called “pocket rescissions” to claw back funding that Congress had already approved.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, had opposed the House bill and said Sunday that the Senate measure is “a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also backed the agreement, calling it “a responsible path forward that allows continued bipartisan negotiations on a budget that delivers for American families.”

“For months, Democrats have been clear: we want to fund the government, avoid a shutdown, and pass strong, bipartisan appropriations bills that improve people’s lives,” Schumer said.

The House path remains uncertain. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., could rely on Democratic support to pass the Senate measure, but he may also face resistance from House Republicans who want to stand by their chamber’s version. Lawmakers are confronting the deadline with concern about the cost and political fallout of another shutdown.