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09/24/2020

House Passes Short-term Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown

The 359-57 vote sends the bill to the Senate, which could take it up this week

Tuesday night, the House of Representatives easily passed a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded through Dec. 11. The 359-57 vote sends the bill to the Senate, which could take it up this week and send it to President Trump for signature, averting the threat of a government shutdown just before the November elections.

The deal was negotiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and includes money for a farm bailout program that the White House is using to repay farmers hurt by Trump's trade policies in exchange for about $8 billion for school nutrition programs that Pelosi said will help children and families during the ongoing pandemic.

“We have reached an agreement with Republicans on the CR to add nearly $8 billion in desperately needed nutrition assistance for hungry schoolchildren and families,” Pelosi said. “Democrats secured urgently needed assistance for schoolchildren to receive meals despite the coronavirus’s disruption of their usual schedules.”

Democrats had pushed to extend the short-term funding into February but Republicans wanted a shorter deal. Congress will not have to deal with government funding again in the lame-duck session after the elections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he is optimistic the Senate will pass the CR before government funding expires at the end of the month.

“I know all members will carefully review the continuing resolution sent by the House,” McConnell said. “I am optimistic that, with bipartisan cooperation, we’ll be able to make law well before the government funding deadline at the end of this month.”

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.

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