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WASHINGTON – Congress has reached a deal to extend government funding through Dec. 20, leaders announced on Sunday, kicking the can down the road as lawmakers try to dodge a devastating shutdown.
The agreement avoids the shutdown that was slated to begin at midnight on Sept. 30, ensuring Americans retain access to crucial government services and sidestepping an embarrassing political blunder with just weeks until the presidential election.
“If both sides continue to work in good faith, I am hopeful that we can wrap up work on the CR this week, well before the September 30 deadline. The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan cooperation, in both chambers,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement on Sunday.
The House is expected to vote on the funding extension, known as a continuing resolution or CR, on Wednesday. The Senate will take it up shortly thereafter in time to avoid a shutdown. It is expected to pass both chambers and be signed by President Joe Biden.
Still, the country isn’t out of the woods. Lawmakers will have to negotiate a longer-term deal after the election – setting up another political fight in the final weeks before Congress turns over and a new president takes over the White House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., unveiled the plan in a letter to his House colleagues earlier on Sunday. The speaker also noted the tricky political tightrope Congress must navigate ahead of the election.
“As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice,” Johnson said in his letter.
