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“The House’s CR is far from perfect, but we are moving forward because we believe it accomplishes two things that I and other Democrats have been insistent on for weeks: It will avoid a government shutdown, and it will do so without any of the cruel cuts or poison pills that the hard right pushed for,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
He added, “There is no reason we can’t finish this bill even as soon as today.”
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the second-ranking Senate Republican, told reporters, “I don’t think there’s any reason why we couldn’t vote later today” if leaders of both parties were able to dispense with amendments.
Without the new spending measure, the government would have shut down just after midnight on Saturday, forcing federal workers — including military members and airport security agents — to go on furlough or work without pay as the Thanksgiving holiday arrived.
Funds in the legislation would expire for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 19. They would expire for the State, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments, among others, on Feb. 2.
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