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With time running out to avoid a partial shutdown, the Senate took the first step toward funding the government on Tuesday.
The Senate voted 68-13 to move forward with the Duck Stamp Act, which will be repurposed to extend government funding through March.
Congressional leaders reached an agreement on top-line spending earlier this month, but they still need to iron out the details of the deal. The extension gives lawmakers an additional six weeks to pass an annual spending bill, moving the current funding deadlines to March 1 and March 8.
It won’t be easy to get the bill through the Senate by midnight Friday, when the first spending bill’s funding expires.
The chamber operates by unanimous consent, meaning a single senator could delay the process into the weekend. However, the Senate was able to avoid previous shutdowns by reaching a time agreement to speed up passage.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he intends to pass a continuing resolution by Thursday.
“Our focus this week is to pass this extension as quickly as possible,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Time is of the essence.”
That would give the House less than a day to pass the bill before it goes to the White House for President Joe Biden’s signature.
The Senate met Tuesday despite a vote in the House being canceled due to the winter storm.
There is little appetite in Washington for a government shutdown, even as the Republican-led House is at odds with Senate Democrats over federal spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) secured a key agreement with Schumer that would only make small cuts to the IRS and coronavirus relief funds, but that Democrats have called it a “poison pill” as part of the spending process. He vowed to pursue special policy agreements that he considers.
The drama will unfold in the coming weeks as conservatives demand further concessions from Democrats who control the Senate and White House. But hardliners will not prevent Johnson from accepting a short-term funding extension for the time being.
Click here to read more from the Washington Examiner
Business in more than a dozen Republican House chambers was suspended earlier this month in protest of the spending deal, but voting was allowed to resume after a meeting with the speaker.
Johnson vowed to continue the resolution soon after taking over as chair in October, but reversed course as the next funding deadline approached. A short-term extension passed by his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was a factor in his firing.
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