The Federal government avoided a costly shutdown, after the House and Senate both passed a continuing resolution Dec. 2 to keep the government funded until Feb. 18, 2022. President Biden signed the CR today, the White House announced.
Leaders in both chambers announced yesterday that a deal had been reached on the terms of the CR and they worked quickly to get the bill to the President’s desk. The CR gives legislators more time to work out appropriations for the rest of the fiscal year (FY) 2022.
The bill passed the house by a vote of 217-209 and the Senate with a 69-28 vote.
With the looming threat of a government shutdown before the end of the calendar year now gone, lawmakers are expected to get back to work on a busy slate of legislation.
The Senate is expected to continue working on the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week. Progress on the bill stumbled earlier this week, as Senate Democrats and Republicans have gone back and forth on an acceptable number of amendments to consider on the floor for the annual defense spending bill.
Lawmakers in both chambers also have to decide how they plan to raise the debt limit before the nation defaults, an outcome Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already said will not happen.
Both chambers will also need to conference any differences between the House-passed version of the FY2022 NDAA and whatever comes out of the Senate. The two chambers also need to conference the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA).
On top of all of that, the Senate still needs to take up the House-passed Build Back Better Act after the bill finishes going through the “Byrd bath,” where any provisions that run afoul of the Byrd rule are stripped. The FY2022 reconciliation bill has billions for supply chain resiliency and modernization.
