U.S. Senate Approves Stopgap Budget Bill to Avert Government Shutdown

According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, the U.S. Senate has agreed to a temporary budget bill to prevent a government shutdown on October 1st. Senate appropriators released the text of the stopgap measure, pushing broader government funding negotiations until after the midterm elections, as reported by Politico, citing Mehr News Agency data.

The bipartisan plan will fund federal agencies at current levels with some exceptions through December 11th. Senate leaders have scheduled an initial procedural vote for Monday night, aiming for passage by the end of the week, just before senators are set to leave town for a five-week recess.

When lawmakers return to Congress in September, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives will face a decision on whether to accept the Senate’s budget rider—a temporary prohibition on finalizing the White House’s proposal to place political appointees in charge of approving financial aid.

Senate Democrats had sought this rider, and senior Republicans, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins of Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have publicly supported blocking the regulation the White House is attempting to finalize for the new fiscal year.

Congressional approval of a budget amendment this far in advance of the fiscal year’s end on September 30th is unusual. However, House Republicans initiated action last month by passing their own initial budget extension, aiming to pressure senators into early negotiations on a plan to avoid a budget impasse, just weeks before the midterm elections.

Unlike the House version, the Senate’s proposal includes language that Democrats have demanded to ensure that no new funds are allocated to immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans had funded these programs earlier this spring through a partisan package, following the breakdown of bipartisan negotiations on changes to how the Trump administration enforces immigration laws.

The Senate’s proposal does include some of the funding increases and authorizations that the White House had requested for specific programs. However, it does not include the major military increases that the administration had requested, such as an additional billion dollars for a warship.