WASHINGTON, D.C. – Over the weekend, congress passed a short term agreement to keep the government funded through mid November but the fight to finalize these spending bills is far from over.
Members essentially kicked the can down the road, leaving these important spending bills to be finalized before the Thanksgiving holiday. Until congress finalizes those bills, we can expect some pushback on items.
Congress narrowly passed a stopgap bill on Saturday to keep the government open until mid-November. That measure included billions of dollars for disaster relief efforts but it left out aid for Ukraine. This was something the White House and both republican and democratic Senators strongly pushed for. But members approved this plan for now just to make sure the government continued without shutting down. While this temporary measure doesn’t include funding for Ukraine, members on both sides of the aisle said they believe they can secure additional help for Ukraine in the final spending bills, despite many House republicans voicing their opposition to continue funding for Ukraine in their fight against the Russian invasion. Here’s what Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R- CA) told us this afternoon on passing this stopgap measure:
“I feel good about it,” said Speaker McCarthy. “The government stayed open. We continued to do our work to make Congress stayed in. I wish the Senate start their approps process. We’re bringing up two more appropriations bills this week. We’ve already got 74 percent discretionary spending already appropriated. We are gonna finish that out like we are supposed to do. This is what the time clock allows us to do. We’re focused on eliminating wasteful spending, getting any wokism out, and most importantly securing our border.”
Now some House republicans, in almost retaliation for the Speaker working with democrats to avert a shutdown, are threatening to oust him from his speakership. We will see if there’s another shakeup in the House within the upcoming days and weeks.
Michigan Representative Jack Bergman (R- MI) and Michigan Senators Gary peters (D- MI) voted for this stopgap measure. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D- MI) contracted COVID and had to isolate. She was unable to vote.
