The House is racing to pass a one-week government funding bill to buy time for negotiations into a broader budget package as a shutdown deadline looms on Friday.
House negotiators on Tuesday afternoon released text of the continuing resolution (CR), which will allow the government to remain funded through Dec. 23.
The House Rules Committee is meeting Tuesday to send the CR to the House floor, where House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said it would receive a vote on Wednesday “or, at the latest, Thursday.”
“We have no intention of shutting down the government,” Hoyer said during a press briefing.
Hoyer said there is no deal yet on the omnibus, but he anticipates an agreement “in the next few days.” The CR will allow the space for negotiators to reach that deal without a government shutdown.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), head of the House Appropriations Committee, agreed with that timeline, saying the bipartisan talks have proceeded “in good faith” and the sides are “trying to move as quickly as we can over the next couple of days.” She acknowledged that Democrats won’t get everything they want.
“Both sides have priorities,” DeLauro said. “This is legislation … that cannot get passed without bicameral, bipartisan support in order for the president to sign it.”
The legislation is expected to pass quickly in the Democratic-led House, and Senate leaders are hopeful for the same outcome in the upper chamber. The bill will need at least 60 votes in the evenly split Senate to secure passage.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor on Monday “members should be prepared to take quick action” on the bill “and avoid the shutdown that neither side wants.”
