Members of Congress are expected in the immediate weeks ahead to debate and vote on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown, triggered to begin on October 1.
The effort comes as those same members are contemplating passage, as part of the stopgap spending bill, emergency supplemental funds to the tune of $47.1 million, as requested by the White House.
Sources say the stopgap spending legislation may make it out of the House next week, before being sent to the Senate. But while a potential bi-partisan move to approve that legislation before the October 1 deadline seems apparent, the fate of the supplemental funds request is uncertain.
What is known is that a continuing resolution, a short-term spending bill designed to avoid a government shutdown, would extend spending to December 16. Notes the Fiscal Times: “Congress will have to fund the government via a stopgap spending measure that sets up another fiscal fight in the lame-duck session after the midterm elections.”
The emergency supplemental funds proposal, meanwhile, includes $6.5 billion in funding that will go to the states to recover from extreme weather events and natural disasters.
By Garry Boulard
