Government funding bill passes House, moves to Senate

2023-09-30 21:01:32

House passes 45-day measure to keep government open; bill heads to Senate

Speaker Kevin McCarthy called for consequences after Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building as lawmakers grappled over a short-term funding bill. "This should not go without punishment," the Republican leader said at a press conference after the House passed the stopgap bill to keep the government open for 45 days. The alarm in Cannon House Office Building was pulled as Democrats sought more time to consider whether to support that measure.

*McCarthy on Bowman pulling fire alarm: 'This should not go without punishment'*

Bowman's office in a statement Saturday afternoon suggested the congressman did not mean to set off the alarm. "Congressman Bowman did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote," a spokesman for Bowman told NBC News. "The Congressman regrets any confusion."

*Senate Democrats will caucus at 3:45 p.m.*

Senate Democrats will caucus at 3:45 p.m. ET, a Democratic aide said, as the chamber considers a House-passed stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at midnight.

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*House adjourns after passing 45-day stopgap bill*

The House adjourned until Monday, just minutes after passing a stopgap bill to keep the government open for 45 days. The measure now moves to the Senate, which must pass it before midnight in order to avoid a shutdown. Senate leaders are expected to try to expedite the process of considering the bill in order to tee it up for a vote today. Doing so would require the agreement of the entire chamber.

*House passes 45-day measure to keep government open*

The House voted 335 to 91 to pass a 45-day stopgap spending measure, a significant step toward avoiding a government shutdown. The measure does not include funding for Ukraine though it allocates money for disaster relief. The bill, crafted by Republicans and supported by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, will now head to the Senate. The House will resume its work on Monday.

*TSA administrator says travelers should expect delays at airports if government shuts down*

The Transportation Security Administration said about 95% of its employees will have to work without pay in the event of a government shutdown. "Most TSA employees do not have the option for remote work. Therefore, they will still be incurring costs for their commute, childcare, and other work-related expenses, but without receiving a paycheck for their work," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement. "It impacts the ability of people to get to work, to pay to put gas in their vehicles, to pay for parking. It impacts their ability to pay the individuals that provide care for their children," Pekoske said, adding that travelers should expect longer wait times at airports.

*Investigation underway into reports of Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulling a fire alarm on Capitol Hill*

The House Administration committee said via a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building around the same time the House was set to start voting on a CR bill. "An investigation into why it was pulled is underway," the committee added in a statement on X. NBC News did not immediately receive a comment from Rep. Bowman's office.

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*House Speaker McCarthy dares critics to remove him from office*

House Speaker McCarthy dared his counterparts to remove him from office over the pending government shutdown. "If somebody wants to remove [me], because I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try," McCarthy said, according to NBC News. "If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that," he added. McCarthy said the House would vote on a 45-day stopgap bill at 11:45 am that would keep the government open.

*Minority Leader Jeffries slams Republicans for bringing 70-page legislation in the '11th hour'*

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., slammed Republicans for bringing a 45-day stopgap measure "in the 11th hour" of a government shutdown. "All we want is time," Jeffries said in a nearly one-hour speech on the House floor. "At the 11th hour, legislation is dropped on the American people and we're told that you have 5 or 10 minutes to evaluate legislation that is more than 70 pages long and expected to simply trust the word of our extreme MAGA Republican colleagues," Jeffries said, referencing former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement.

*House Democrats discuss Republican resolution in an emergency meeting*

The Democratic caucus of the House has held an emergency meeting to discuss the continuing resolution, or CR, of their Republican colleagues, according to NBC. House Republicans were due to hold a vote on their CR at 11:45 a.m. ET. Democrats feel they have not been given enough time to review the resolution and decide whether they support it. They requested 90 minutes to read the Republican resolution but were denied, NBC reports. "We're expected as elected representatives just to blindly vote on it like sheep, with that record of having your credibility undermined over and over and over again?" said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, according to NBC. Some Democrats have expressed that they might vote for the resolution. NBC reported that Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz has indicated he would vote in favor and California Rep. Juan Vargas would vote for it "if it's a clean CR."

*45-day stopgap measure does not include funding for Ukraine*

The House will vote soon on a 45-day clean continuing resolution aimed at keeping the government open. Since the inception of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, the U.S. has unleashed a war chest worth more than $43 billion in security assistance.

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*Here's Congress' schedule so far as officials try to avert shutdown*

Congress has just hours to pass a budget before the government shuts down. Here's the schedule so far today, according to NBC, though plans could change:

1. 9:30 a.m. ET: House Republicans met in the Capitol for a conference meeting. This follows another conference meeting Friday evening where Speaker Kevin McCarthy proposed a 45-day budget that would fund disaster relief but neither border security nor Ukraine support. That resolution did not pass and will likely continue to change.
2. 10 a.m. ET: The House opened the floor and started its Saturday session.
3. 11:45 a.m. ET: The House will vote on a CR that would provide a budget until mid-November, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced.
4. 12 p.m. ET: The Senate is due to resume its session.
5. Around 1 p.m. ET (delayed): This afternoon, the Senate postponed its third procedural vote on a bipartisan continuing resolution, or CR, that would keep the government funded in the short term. Senators have begun a so-called "live quorum call," a procedure where they will discuss next steps. The Senate's CR needs 60 votes to move forward. The first two procedural votes took place on Sept. 26, when it received 77 votes in favor, and Sept. 28, when it received 76 votes in favor. If the procedural vote passes, debate will begin for up to 30 hours. Meanwhile, Democrats in the lower chamber are buying time on the House floor to give the proposed CR of their Republican colleagues a more thorough review before voting.
6. 3:45 p.m. ET: Senate Democrats will hold a caucus to discuss next steps in addressing a House-passed CR.
7. 11:59 p.m. ET: This is the deadline for the government to pass a budget deal before the shutdown takes effect.

*Pence confident Republicans 'will find a way' as shutdown looms*

Former Vice President Mike Pence hailed House Republicans for standing "firm" ahead of a pending government shutdown. "I think it's important that House Republicans stand firm and get another down payment on restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington, D.C.," Pence told CNBC's Eamon Javers on "Last Call." Pence said that he was confident that Republicans "will find a way even if there is a short-term shutdown to fund the government." Pence added that as president, his administration "will take on the long-term mandatory spending programs and bring some common sense reforms that will put us back on a path of fiscal solvency and a balanced budget in the years ahead."

*House's morning meeting yields little movement, CR vote to come*

Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that the House will vote on a continuing resolution, or CR, today at 11:45 a.m. ET, according to NBC. However, House Republicans left their morning conference meeting with little reassurance that the government would avoid a shutdown tonight, NBC reports. The caucus held a private conference meeting at 9:30 a.m. before the House floor opened today. The meeting comes after a group of conservative GOP House members on Friday sunk a Republican-drafted bill that would have included the spending cuts and border security funding that House Republicans are looking for. "We presented the most conservative short-term funding option with border security available," said New York Republican Rep. Marcus Molinaro, referencing the bill that did not pass on Friday. "It is necessary for us to take the next best option, which is not to abandon the people who expect services from us."

*2 million servicemembers and more than 1.5 million federal civilian employees will go without a paycheck during shutdown*

The Biden administration estimates that an estimated 2 million U.S. servicemembers and more than 1.5 million federal civilian employees will go without a paycheck during a government shutdown. The Office of Management and Budget also estimates that approximately 820,000 federal employees may be furloughed for as long as the shutdown lasts.

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*Government shutdown is 'unacceptable,' Biden says*

President Joe Biden called the looming government shutdown "unacceptable" on Saturday morning. "There are those in Congress right now who are sowing so much division, they're willing to shut down the government tonight. It's unacceptable," Biden wrote on X.

*'Total failure by everybody in government,' GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie says of shutdown*

Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed lawmakers for the pending U.S. government shutdown. "Total failure by everybody in government," Christie told NBC's Emma Barnett following a town hall in Keene, New Hampshire, on Friday. Christie said both Democrats and Republicans are "guilty" of creating the looming government crisis. When asked how he would handle the situation if he were president Christie slammed Biden by saying, "I would not be sitting around like Joe Biden acting like it's not my problem." "They'd be in the White House and we'd work on it until they fixed it," Christie said of congressional leaders.

*Tens of thousands of civilian defense workers will go without a paycheck during the shutdown*

The largest government agency will have to furlough tens of thousands of civilian defense workers if there's a lapse in federal funding. The Pentagon, which oversees a workforce of approximately 950,000 civilians and more than 1.3 million active-duty servicemembers, will begin to shut down non-essential military services on Monday if a budget resolution is not passed by Congress on Saturday. Depending on the military installation, servicemembers and their families may experience canceled elective medical procedures at military hospitals, a halt in temporary duty movements and other shuddered services due to the shutdown. Civilians and servicemembers will not be paid for as long as the shutdown persists, however, Department of Defense employees will receive back pay following a budget deal.

*National parks, Smithsonian museums to close in government shutdown*

If the government is shut down tomorrow, you may have to postpone that Sunday hike. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that national parks will be closed "in the event of a lapse in annual government appropriations." "This means that the majority of national parks will be closed completely to public access. Areas that, by their nature, are physically accessible to the public will face significantly reduced visitor services," the Department said. The Smithsonian Institution has also released its contingency plan, saying services that protect "life or property" such as taking care of the national collections and National Zoo animals will continue. However, Smithsonian museums will close to the public. Employees of NPS and the Smithsonian will be furloughed, except those whose jobs are exempt from the pause. As the midnight government shutdown deadline looms, government officials are scrambling to negotiate a resolution that will pass among House Republicans who want big spending cuts and congressional Democrats. The government will officially shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday if they fail to find a middle ground and make a deal.

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