Roll Call: House Easily Passes 10-Week Stopgap Spending Bill

They join the Senate - see story below.

- Click here for the article.

The House on a 342-85 vote easily passed a 10-week stopgap spending bill late Wednesday, clearing the measure for President Barack Obama’s signature with two days to spare before a government shutdown.

The Obama administration voiced support for passage of the continuing resolution in a statement of administration policy. The House was expected to adjourn later Wednesday and not return until after the November elections.

The House vote, as well as an earlier Senate vote of 72-26, were in contrast to weeks of battles over whether money to fight the Zika virus should be made available to Planned Parenthood locations in Puerto Rico and over emergency aid for stricken Flint, Michigan. Congressional leaders smoothed over a final impasse by committing to include financial help for Flint's contaminated water system in subsequent legislation expected to clear in the lame-duck session after the elections.

But it’s clear that as time ran out to get the stopgap spending bill to the president, other issues that were sticking points will pop up again in spending negotiations on tap for December.

“This short time frame will allow Congress to complete our annual appropriations work without jeopardizing important government functions,” House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers said of the CR, shortly before the chamber cleared the measure.

In addition to continuing fiscal 2016 levels for programs through Dec. 9 — though that level was knocked down by just under half a percent to fit under budget caps — the package also includes $1.1 billion in funding to respond to the Zika virus, $500 million in flood relief for Louisiana and other states, and full fiscal 2017 appropriations for military construction and veterans.

During floor debate, Rogers touted the fiscal 2017 Military Construction-VA bill, which he said if enacted would represent the first time since 2009 that lawmakers have pushed through a regular appropriations bill that resulted from a bicameral conference.

“It’s not perfect, but it ensures we meet our nation’s critical needs,” the Kentucky Republican said, adding, “At this point, it is what we must do to fulfill our congressional responsibility, to keep the lights on in our government.”

From the Washington Post: Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown after Flint deal struck

As usual, appropriations bills will not be passed in time for the new fiscal year, instead a continuing resolution will be passed.

For detail: What Is a Continuing Resolution?

Now the House must vote on it.

- Click here for the article.

The Senate cemented an agreement Wednesday to avoid an Oct. 1 government shutdown after House Republicans allowed a vote on federal aid to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., removing a major obstacle in negotiations.

Senators voted 72-15 to pass a stopgap measure that will keep the government open until Dec. 9, giving appropriators time to pass 2017 spending bills. The measure also provides $1.1 billion in funds to address the Zika virus and $500 million in emergency flood relief.
Both the Zika and flood funding were subject to long and painstaking negotiations between majority Republicans and minority Democrats, but it was funding for Flint that threatened to push matters past the brink.

Democrats made clear earlier this week they would not support the spending bill unless Republicans moved to guarantee Flint aid, while GOP leaders countered the Senate had approved Flint aid earlier this month in a separate water projects bill.

The impasse was broken late Tuesday after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck a deal allowing a vote to attach $170 million in Flint relief to the House version of the water bill. That bill is expected to pass late Wednesday; the stopgap spending measure is expected to pass shortly afterward.
Ryan, addressing the Economic Club of Washington Wednesday morning, said the amendment would “help unlock” the spending bill. “We should be able to move this through, I believe, before Friday,” he said.

By Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats were satisfied that, thanks to the House deal, Flint would be addressed once Congress returns after the Nov. 8 election.

“I am convinced that there is going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said on the Senate floor. “They’ve been waiting for help, they deserve help, and I am very happy it is going to come.”

Wednesday’s Senate votes capped weeks of frustration for Republicans, who complained that Democrats had engaged in bad-faith spending negotiations aimed at keeping vulnerable GOP incumbents in Washington rather than on the campaign trail.

From Newsweek: Senate Passes Bill to Fund Government Through December 11

This is becoming a pretty standard part of the budgeting process.

- Click here for the story.

On the eve of the government’s annual budget expiration, Senate passed a continuing resolution to provide temporary funding for the government through December 11. The resolution now makes its way to the House and if it is passed, a government shutdown will be avoided for the time being.

The resolution received 78 “yes” votes out of 100, though it only needed 51 to pass.
This decision comes after Cecile Richards, the leader of Planned Parenthood, testified before Congress on the matter of defunding the healthcare provider. Members of the Republican Party, including Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, have sought a government shutdown in order to defund Planned Parenthood after the release of controversial videos by a pro-life activist purporting to expose the illegal practices of the health organization.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, harshly opposed a government shutdown, opting to temporarily fund Planned Parenthood in order to avoid such an outcome.
Congressional Republicans used these brinkmanship tactics in 2013, when Cruz gave a 21-hour marathon speech, opting for a government shutdown in protest of funding the Affordable Care Act. Democrats argued the move produced economic insecurity. With national election campaigning in full force, Republican leadership has been wary of the political dangers of a shutdown.

What did the House actually vote on yesterday?

An amendment to the continuing resolution needed to keep the government funded after October 1st - but only until mid - December.

- Here's the vote.
- House approves Obama’s Iraq-Syria military strategy amid skepticism.
- House approves Obama request for Syria in broad bipartisan vote.

Are Republicans winning the battle over spending?

Looks like it.

Ted Cruz wants to be Mel Gibson

That's what The Dish makes of our senator's effort to defund Obamacare despite the reservations of his party leaders.

What is a continuing resolution?

The NYT provides an overview of the politics associated with the continuing resolution just passed by the US House. The one that also cuts funding for ObamaCare.

But first - what is a continuing resolution (also referred to as continuing appropriations) and why do they matter?

Here's a definition from the US Senate website:

continuing resolution/continuing appropriations - Legislation in the form of a joint resolution enacted by Congress, when the new fiscal year is about to begin or has begun, to provide budget authority for Federal agencies and programs to continue in operation until the regular appropriations acts are enacted.

It all comes down to the budgetary process in the US, and that fact that the Constitution stipulates that money cannot be drawn from the Treasury unless it has been appropriated by law - the is the Appropriations Clause.

Both the House and Senate have Appropriations Committees that oversee this process.

Aside from that - as we will soon see - there is nothing in the Constitution about a budgetary process. One only began to be established in the early years of 20th Century when efforts were made - driven by progressives - to professionalize the governing process. This includes the establishment of Budget Committees in the House and Senate. They are in charge of determining how Congress wants funding to be directed - sort of - because some funding is mandatory. This is referred to as the authorization process of the budgetary process. We will cover this soon enough.

- Here's the Wikipedia on the US budget process.

But none of this really matters here. What matter is the appropriations process and the fact that we are near the end of the fiscal year. What is that? Again, from the Senate:

fiscal year - The fiscal year is the accounting period for the federal government which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2013 begins on October 1, 2012 and ends on September 30, 2013. Congress passes appropriations legislation to fund the government for every fiscal year.

- Click here for a CRS report on the process.
- And here for another CRS report - a bit more thorough.

We are coming up on the end of the 2012-2013 fiscal year. That's what the media really refers to when it says that the US government is about to run out of money. In theory, the new fiscal year 2013-2014 cannot begin, or at least money for that period cannot be drawn from the Treasury, unless appropriations bills are passed. These are to provide funding through the next fiscal year.

As we will see when we discuss the budget, this seldom really happens. Conflicts over spending usually result in these bills not being passed in time. So how does the US government get the money it is required to spend due to existing law?

From the continuing resolutions. These are bills that provide short term funding for government when the appropriations bills are not passed. So what the House passed was such a bill, but with a condition - that funding for Obamacare be terminated - which won't happen of course.

We'll follow this over the next couple of weeks. Since war does not appear to be likely with Syria - this is the most exciting stuff we have going on.

Continuing Resolution passes US House and Senate

When 2305's start looking at the budget, we will discuss what "the budget" is and what it isn't. It is a statement declaring what revenues and outlays are to be over a given period of time, but it is not a binding document. The budgets I asked 2305s to discuss in this week's assignment are better considered as being political - not fiscal - instruments. The Constitution says nothing about budgets or a budgetary process, only that funds cannot be drawn from the treasury if an appropriations bill has been passed to authorize it. But the recent dysfunction in Congress has even made that problematic, and more recently the US government has been funded by a series of short term funding measures called continuing resolutions.

Here's Wikipedia's definition of a continuing resolution: A continuing resolution is a type of appropriations legislation used by the United States Congress to fund government agencies if a formal appropriations bill has not been signed into law by the end of the Congressional fiscal year. The legislation takes the form of a joint resolution, and provides funding for existing federal programs at current, reduced, or expanded levels.

If the resolution is not passed - assuming that the appropriations bills have not passed either - they money cannot be drawn from the treasury to fund government agencies and they have to shut down. At least those that perform non-vital programs do.

We will cover this more fully later, but I bring it up now because the US House and Senate have passed continuing resolutions in order to avoid a shutdown - which tends to be unpopular.

Here are the stories that provide detail:

- Congress moves one step closer to avoiding a government shutdown.
- House to approve bill to keep government running.
- House approves resolution to keep government running; bill heads to White House.

This guarantees funding until September 30th, when further funding can be subject to hostage taking again.