House to take up stop-gap funding bill to avoid government shutdown

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Sunday said the House will take up a stop-gag funding bill in the coming week to avoid a government shutdown as congressional negotiators work to agree on an omnibus spending proposal for the rest of the fiscal year.

Asked by host Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show” about an update on the negotiations, Hoyer said the lower chamber will likely pass a continuing resolution (CR) to give negotiations “a little more time” to write the funding bill.

“We’re gonna get something done, it’ll probably be a short-term CR and it will be this coming week to give us a little more time. Negotiations are very vigorous and I think that we’re going to get agreement both on the top line, how much spending is going to be in, and how it will be spent,” Hoyer said.

“But it’s not there yet, so I expect to do a continuing resolution to continue the authorization for government to operate and be funded this coming week and hopefully the Senate will do the same,” he added.

The majority leader said “the problem is it’s very difficult to get agreement.”

“We passed a bills in the House, we could pass an omnibus in the House, but of course the Senate is 50-50 and you need Republicans and Democrats to cooperate and they’re having trouble getting there, but hopefully we’ll get there soon,” he added.

This week’s floor schedule from Hoyer’s office says “the House will act on FY2022 appropriations, hopefully on an omnibus bill, but we will not allow the government to shut down.”

If Congress does pass a continuing resolution in the next two weeks it will be the third such bill passed to keep the government funded and prevent a shutdown since the fiscal year began in October.

Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the top ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told reporters on Thursday that Congress is “probably headed” for another continuing resolution.

The possibility of another stop-gap bill comes as Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over a number of budget-related issues.

Top leaders from both parties have still not come to terms on a top-line number for the bill and disagreements remain regarding a number of legislative riders, including the Hyde Amendment — a decades-old amendment barring Medicaid from being used to cover abortions. Democrats are opposed to the measure.

The parties are also at odds over funding for Veteran Affairs and funding levels for defense and nondefense spending — Republicans have demanded equal levels of growth in funding for the two areas.

Congressional negotiators are currently racing the clock, with a Feb. 18 deadline to finalize a deal on an omnibus bill or buy more time with a continuing resolution.

Congress passed a continuing resolution in early December, which allots funding through Feb. 18. That was an extension from the original late-September deadline, which was extended right before fiscal 2022 started on Oct. 1.