Congress is on its way to funding the government into the next budget year.
Senate leaders from both parties are expressing confidence the legislation will easily pass after it cleared its first hurdle with 73 ‘yes’ votes in the Senate.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is promising that the stopgap funding measure will clear both houses of Congress this week.
Passing this bill would avoid keeping the government funded until Dec. 16 and averting a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Saturday, Oct. 1.
“We’re going to work quickly … Work fast to finish the process here in the Senate … Send it over to the House, so they can send it to the president’s desk,” Schumer said.
The path forward comes after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia agreed to step away from his push on a provision to speed up the permitting process for oil and gas projects. The provision had been attached to the stopgap spending measure, but most Republicans opposed it.
Schumer said this funding bill contains things that people on both sides of the aisle support including billions of dollars for disaster relief.
“To help hard-hit communities in Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Alaska and Puerto Rico battered by floods, Schumer said.
This includes helping people from “disasters over the last year” and help for New Mexico as it experienced its worst wildfire in the state’s history, he continued.
The bill also includes another $12 billion to help Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression. That funding aims to provide more training and weapons to help Ukraine’s military and directly support their government.
“In my view, the money for Ukraine is critically important. So I think we’ve got this in the area where it should pass here in the next day or two,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R- KY., and Minority Leader of the Senate said.
After the Senate votes on the bill, it will go to the House where it could pass quickly under the “same day rule.”
Both parties are grateful to avoid a government shutdown just six weeks ahead of the midterm elections. Senate Minority Leader McConnell says Republican candidates will focus on inflation, crime and security at the border.
McConnell was asked how abortion will impact Republicans at the polls. “Every one of our candidates will have a different answer to that depending where they are,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democrats are highlighting recent bills that have passed under their leadership, including the climate and health care bill referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act.
