Path to Avoid Federal Shutdown Unclear
The House of Representatives voted 217-212 to extend current levels of federal spending through Nov. 21, but the Senate was not able to find the 60 votes needed to approve the same approach.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
In the Senate, 44 members voted for that House plan, with eight Republicans not voting, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voting yes, and Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting no.
The Senate needs 60 votes to pass a spending plan.
Democrats in the Senate offered their own version, extending current spending levels through Oct. 31, but also adding funding to continue subsidizing Obamacare premiums next year at current levels, reversing cuts to Medicaid that passed on a party-line vote earlier in the year, restoring funding for PBS and NPR, and limiting executive ability to not spend money that Congress appropriated.
That, too, failed, with 47 in favor and 45 against, with the same absences.
The Senate is taking a break next week, and is planning to return Sept. 29; the House is not scheduled to return until October.