Congress Averts Government Shutdown

The House has approved and sent a $853 billion spending bill to President Trump in an attempt to avert a partial government shutdown. The spending package includes a stop-gap funding measure in the form of a continuing resolution (CR), which provides level funding for agencies that do not have new spending approved by October 1. The House approved the “minibus” by a 361-61 vote on September 26. The Senate had approved the bill a week earlier. President Trump has agreed to sign the measure saying, “We’re going to keep the government open.” The spending package includes fiscal year (FY) 2019 Defense, Labor-Health and Human Services, and Education spending bills along with the stop-gap CR. The CR provides funding for Interior-EPA, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Financial Services, Commerce-Justice-Science, State-Foreign Operations, and Homeland Security, until December 7. There will be a lame-duck session after the November elections to finish work on FY 2019 appropriations. This is the second spending package that Congress has sent to the President. The first included the Energy-Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch spending bills for FY 2019 and was signed into law by President Trump on September 21.      
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news