House votes to avert shutdown, but quick Senate OK in doubt

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a measure Thursday that funds the authorities done Feb. 18 and avoids a short-term shutdown aft midnight Friday, but speedy Senate support was successful uncertainty due to the fact that of a combat implicit President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

An statement among legislature leaders announced earlier successful the time would support the authorities moving for 11 much weeks, mostly astatine existent spending levels portion adding $7 cardinal to assistance Afghanistan evacuees.

The Democratic-led House passed the measurement by a 221-212 vote. The Republican enactment urged members to ballot no; the lone GOP ballot for the measure came from Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Lawmakers bemoaned the short-term hole and blamed the opposing enactment for the deficiency of advancement connected this year’s spending bills. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, seat of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measurement would, however, let for negotiations connected a bundle covering the remainder of the fund twelvemonth done September.

“Make nary mistake, a ballot against this continuing solution is simply a ballot to unopen authorities down,” DeLauro said during the House debate.

Before the House acted, President Joe Biden said helium had spoken with Senate leaders and helium played down fears of a shutdown.

“There is simply a program successful spot unless idiosyncratic decides to beryllium wholly erratic, and I don’t deliberation that volition happen,” Biden said.

Conservative Republicans opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules privation Congress to instrumentality a hard basal against the mandated shots for workers astatine larger businesses, adjacent if that means shutting down national offices implicit the weekend.

It was conscionable the latest lawsuit of the brinkmanship astir authorities backing that has triggered respective costly shutdowns and partial closures implicit the past 2 decades. The longest shutdown successful past happened nether President Donald Trump — 35 days stretching into January 2019, erstwhile Democrats refused to o.k. wealth for his U.S-Mexico borderline wall. Both parties hold the stoppages are irresponsible, yet fewer deadlines walk without a precocious scramble to debar them.

Republicans said during the statement that they had made it wide successful the summertime that they would not enactment spending bills that see “irresponsible spending increases and utmost policies.”

“Unfortunately, that is precisely wherever we find ourselves,” said Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas.

Democrats were capable to usage their bulk to beforehand the spending bill. They person a much hard task successful the 50-50 Senate, wherever objections by conscionable 1 legislator tin dilatory a last ballot past Friday’s midnight deadline. That could mean a short-term shutdown into the weekend.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Democrats knew past period from a missive that respective Republicans would usage each means astatine their disposal to reason authorities that funds oregon allows the enforcement of the leader vaccine mandate. He blamed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for not negotiating and for ignoring their position.

If the prime is betwixt “suspending nonessential functions” oregon lasting idle portion Americans suffer their quality to work, “I’ll basal with American workers each time,” Lee said.

GOP senators said the thought is to ballot connected stripping wealth that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would usage to instrumentality the request that backstage employers with 100 oregon much workers guarantee they are vaccinated oregon regularly tested.

“This is simply a accidental to close a wrong,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who undertook a akin effort against vaccine mandates during the past authorities backing standoff.

Schumer said it was “not casual to scope this deal” and that portion astir Republicans bash not privation a shutdown, a “few idiosyncratic Republican senators look determined to derail this important authorities due to the fact that of their absorption to the president’s lifesaving vaccine guidelines.”

“Let’s beryllium clear, if determination is simply a shutdown, it volition beryllium a Republican, anti-vaccine shutdown,” Schumer said.

The White House sees the vaccinations arsenic the quickest mode to extremity a pandemic that has killed much than 780,000 radical successful the United States and is inactive evolving, arsenic seen Wednesday with the country’s archetypal detected lawsuit of a troubling caller variant.

Courts person knocked backmost against the mandates, including a ruling this week blocking enforcement of a request for immoderate wellness attraction workers.

For immoderate Republicans, the tribunal cases and lawmakers’ fears astir a perchance disruptive shutdown are factors against engaging successful a high-stakes shutdown.

“One of the things I’m a small acrophobic astir is: Why would we marque ourselves the entity of nationalist attraction by creating the specter of a authorities shutdown?” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a GOP leader.

“There’s excessively overmuch chaos successful our state close now, excessively overmuch interest astir omicron. The past happening we request is much disorder and fear,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reiterated that determination volition beryllium nary shutdown.

“We’re not going to bash that,” helium said Thursday.

The medication has pursued vaccine requirements for respective groups of workers, but the effort is facing ineligible setbacks.

A national justice this week blocked the medication from enforcing a vaccine mandate connected thousands of wellness attraction workers successful 10 states. Earlier, a national appeals tribunal temporarily halted the OSHA request affecting employers with 100 oregon much workers.

The medication has besides enactment successful spot policies requiring millions of national employees and national contractors, including subject troops, to beryllium afloat vaccinated. Those efforts are besides nether challenge.

Polling from The Associated Press shows Americans are divided implicit Biden’s effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats overwhelmingly for it portion astir Republicans are against.

Some Republicans similar an effort from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to ballot to cull the administration’s mandates successful a legislature reappraisal enactment expected adjacent week, abstracted from the backing fight.

Separately, immoderate wellness attraction providers protested the stopgap spending measure. Hospitals accidental it does thing to shield them from Medicare outgo cuts scheduled to spell into effect amid uncertainty astir the caller omicron variant.

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Associated Press unit writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.