Lawmakers reached agreement on and passed a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) last week to keep the government open through Dec. 9. The measure includes $1.1 billion in funds to fight the Zika virus and a full year’s worth of appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects.
Lawmakers reached agreement on and passed a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) last week to keep the government open through Dec. 9. The measure includes $1.1 billion in funds to fight the Zika virus and a full year’s worth of appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects.
Once agreement was reached on a short-term deal, both chambers speedily passed it with broad, bipartisan votes. Lawmakers in the House Rules Committee used a special rule to ensure the bill would receive consideration on the floor immediately after it passed committee.
The agreement passed the House 342-85, and the Senate 72-28. It was necessary because the budget process broke down again this year, with Congress failing to approve any of the 12 regular spending bills for the coming year.
Lawmakers’ focus now shifts to finding agreement on a longer-term funding extension to keep the government running through the rest of Fiscal 2017, which began last Saturday.
An agreement is widely expected to be reached by the end of the calendar year.
