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The House was in session on Monday and Tuesday this week, while the Senate continues to be in session through Friday. The Senate plans on voting tomorrow on the House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR), which provides funding to the federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2025, ending on September 30, 2025. Lawmakers have just two days remaining to take action before a government shutdown occurs beginning at 12:00AM ET on Saturday, March 15. The House and Senate are scheduled to be in recess during the week of March 17, barring a government shutdown. The Legislative Update will return on Monday, March 24.
On Tuesday evening, the House passed, by a vote of 217-213, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (H.R. 1968), which largely funds the federal government at enacted FY 2024 funding levels through September 30, 2025 and extends various expiring programs and authorities. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), with the help of President Donald Trump, secured holdouts from his own party, including members of the House Freedom Caucus, to ensure passage of the bill to avert a government shutdown with only one vote from House Democrats. Democrat Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted in favor, while Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) opposed the CR. After House passage of the bill, Speaker Johnson called for an early end to this week’s session, canceling the lower chamber’s votes and other committee activities and allowing members to leave town.
The move may force the Senate to act on the bill as-is, leaving a difficult decision for Senate Democrats. Due to the need to pass a 60-vote filibuster, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) will need at least eight Democratic Senators to vote for the bill. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other leaders in the Senate have a difficult decision to make. Either they can help pass a bill with significant portions they are opposed to or vote against it and face potential backlash over a government shutdown. On Monday evening, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) released the Democratic foil to the Republicans' plan, a bill to pass a CR for 4 weeks. The Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2025 (H.R 1974/S. 924) would keep the government funded through Friday, April 11, 2025, and allow lawmakers to continue negotiations on all twelve FY25 spending bills. Schumer said he would allow a few vulnerable Democrats to vote for the measure, but it is unclear if Schumer and Senate Democrats will provide enough votes to advance the bill (which would eventually allow for passage of the CR with just 51 votes). Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has shared that he will vote for cloture on the bill in order to prevent a shutdown, while Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has made it known that he will vote against the bill. Many are speculating over the ambiguity of Senate Democrats, led by Schumer, regarding their voting plans for the CR. In a floor speech, the Minority Leader said “Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR.” After a closed-door meeting, Schumer mentioned Democrats' desire for a one-month CR. With the House out of town, lawmakers must soon decide to avoid a shutdown. Majority Leader Thune has set up a cloture vote on Friday morning on the House-passed CR.
The one-year CR funds most programs and activities at enacted FY 2024 levels, with some programs facing increases and others decreases, including adding $6 billion to defense and $440 million for immigration enforcement, while cutting Internal Revenue Service funds by $20 billion. If the legislation passes, several expiring authorities would receive an extension through September 30, 2025, including:
- several public health, Medicare, and Medicaid authorities and programs;
- the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
- authorities related to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission whistleblower program;
- the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Cybersecurity Protection System;
- authorities for DHS and the Department of Justice to take certain actions to mitigate a credible threat from an unmanned aircraft system;
- the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program;
- several immigration-related programs and authorities;
- the special assessment on nonindigent persons or entities convicted of certain offenses involving sexual abuse or human trafficking;
- the temporary scheduling order issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration to place fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act;
- the authorization for the U.S. Parole Commission; and
- the Department of Agriculture livestock mandatory price reporting program.
Notably, the year-long CR does not include funding for any of the 8,600 pending FY25 earmarks (i.e., “Community Project Funding”/”Congressionally Directed Spending” requests), totaling $15.9 billion, which advanced through the appropriations process throughout 2024.
The Senate earlier this week voted to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be Secretary of Labor; Steve Bradbury to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation; Abigail Slater to be Assistant Attorney General overseeing DOJ’s Antitrust Division; Stephen Miran to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Keith Sonderling to be Deputy Secretary of Labor. On Thursday, the Senate will vote to confirm William Pulte to be Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency for a term of five years; and Jeffrey Kessler to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security. Other nominees which could be voted on as early as Friday include: Stephen Feinberg to be Deputy Secretary of Defense; and John Phelan to be Secretary of the Navy.
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