Senate Approves Temporary Funding Bill, House Likely To Act Today, Avoiding Shutdown

Brian Naylor

December 20, 2018 / 7:10 am

caption: Lawmakers are anxious to approve a temporary government funding bill and head home for the Holidays.

The Senate gave approval Wednesday night for a measure to fund those government agencies not included in the spending measures already approved by Congress. The House is expected to follow suit Thursday, sending the measure to the President Trump, whose aides have not yet said whether he will sign it.

Funding for about a quarter of the government will run out midnight Friday, and the government will be forced to partially close unless the spending measure is agreed to.

But the temporary spending bill defies President Trump's call for $5 billion to construct a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Trump tweeted Thursday morning charging Democrats know "Steel Slats (Wall) are necessary for Border Security" and are "putting politics over Country" by refusing to fund the wall. He also threatened "not to sign any of their legislation, including infrastructure, unless it has perfect Border Security."

The spending measure, also known as a continuing resolution or CR, would fund nine cabinet level departments and several independent agencies through February 8th, when Congress would again be forced to confront the issue. But Democrats, who will control the House in the next Congress, have adamantly refused to provide money for a wall.

In a speech Wednesday, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was "sorry that my Democratic colleagues couldn't put the partisanship aside and show the same good-faith flexibility that the president has shown in order to provide the resources our nation needs to secure the integrity of our borders as well as the safety of American families."

Members of the House Freedom Caucus, some of the most conservative members of Congress railed against the wall-less spending plan Wednesday night. The group's chairman, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., urged Trump to veto the spending measure, saying "we're going to back you up, if you veto this bill, we'll be there."

The temporary spending bill does include $1.3 billion for border security. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released a statement on Wednesday indicating she supports the stopgap bill and it's likely most House Democrats will vote for the legislation.

A presidential veto would mean that hundreds of thousands of federal employees including Border patrol, FBI and DEA agents would continue to work over the Christmas holiday but without pay, while hundreds of thousands of other federal workers would be furloughed. [Copyright 2018 NPR]