Government shutdown averted as Senate passes short term funding bill

On Feb 18, 2022

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Thursday to fund the government through March 11, narrowly avoiding a partial government shutdown set to begin on Friday, and giving lawmakers more time to pass a full-year funding bill.

The Senate voted 65-27 to pass the measure.

The House passed the short term funding package last week, 272-162. The bill now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Thursday marked the second time in the fiscal year that lawmakers voted to keep government agencies fully operational. Funding was extended into February by a package passed by Congress in December.

Members of Congress are still working on a larger appropriations bill that would fund the government through the rest of the 2022 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

“A yearlong omnibus is a thousand times better than relying on CRs, Continuing Resolutions, to lurch from one short-term extension to the next,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday. “I remain optimistic that both sides will keep working together on drafting legislation to fund the government so it can fully serve the American people, while keep us safe here at home.”

More:House passes short-term funding bill as Congress approaches another shutdown deadline

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah led a group of Republican senators who said they wouldn’t allow expedited passage of the bill without a vote on defunding the enforcement of federal vaccine mandates.

In a letter, the group said “We invite you to stand with us and oppose the CR until it explicitly defunds the implementation and enforcement of these mandates. At a minimum, we need to take a vote on this before funding their enforcement.”

The Lee amendment failed to pass, 46-47. The Senate also voted on amendments from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., on balancing the budget, and from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on halting federal funding to schools that require Covid vaccines.

The Braun amendment failed, 47-45, as did the Cruz amendment, 44-49.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn had previously tried to delay the passage, alleging the Department of Health and Human Services was supplying crack pipes as part of “safe smoking kits” designed to combat drug overdoses, but later dropped her hold. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in a letter to Congress “no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.”