The U.S. Senate has made a big step forward by advancing a $174 billion funding package, but the clock is ticking as the government will shut down at the end of the month without a bill being passed.
With a vote of 81 to 14 from both parties on Monday night, senators cleared the first step in the process for a three-bill package known as a “minibus.” The House already voted to approve this package last week. It will receive a final vote in the Senate later this week before being sent to President Donald Trump.
Even though things are improving, lawmakers have until January 30 to secure funding for the remainder of the government’s operations. Some think that a short-term continuing resolution will be needed to buy time.
The issue has caused a lot of debate, especially since funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still up in the air and politically charged.
The Senate’s bipartisan support shows that everyone wants to avoid another shutdown, especially since it happened just a few months after the longest one in history. However, there are still some difficult issues to deal with. Let’s look at why this fight is far from over.
Fox News says that getting 81 senators to agree on anything these days is no small feat. However, the $174 billion deal shows that both sides are at least trying to keep the lights on.
This feels like a half-hearted sprint to the halfway point, though, since only three funding bills have been passed so far and a dozen are needed to fully avoid a shutdown.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, didn’t hold back when he talked about what was coming. He said, “Of course, there’s going to be a short-term CR,” which means that a temporary funding patch is almost certain to happen. Why hurry to find a good answer when you can just put it off?
At the same time, another $77 billion package that includes National Security and Financial Services could soon go through the House.
Even if it passes, it won’t be enough to avoid a shutdown, and it doesn’t include the controversial DHS appropriations bill. That’s where the real fireworks start.
The DHS funding bill has always been a source of disagreement, but the tragic shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota last week has made things even worse.
This event has added fuel to an already heated argument about how agencies like ICE and Customs and Border Protection work. Now, lawmakers from both sides are dealing with the public’s worry about how these agencies are acting.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a key member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, took advantage of the situation to call for changes.
“I understand we have to get Republican votes,” he said. “So I’m not proposing we fix this overnight, but I think it should be clear to Republicans that if they want Democratic votes for a DHS appropriations bill, they’re going to have to work with us on our concerns.”
Democrats are standing firm and asking for concessions like better training for officers, but they are framing it as a reasonable compromise.
Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says it’s “always one of the most difficult” bills to pass. Why should taxpayers believe that this won’t just turn into another partisan fight?
The fact that both parties voted for the $174 billion package shows that neither side wants to be blamed for a shutdown.
As the January 30 deadline approaches and DHS funding is still a mess, a short-term fix seems like a way to avoid the problem.
