Senate passes stopgap funding bill, avoiding shutdown

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a stopgap spending measure Thursday that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the national authorities done Feb. 18 aft leaders defused a partisan standoff implicit national vaccine mandates. The measurement present goes to President Joe Biden to beryllium signed into law.

Earlier successful the day, legislature leaders announced they had yet reached an statement to support the authorities moving for 11 much weeks, mostly astatine existent spending levels, portion adding $7 cardinal to assistance Afghanistan evacuees.

Once the House voted to o.k. the measure, senators soon announced an statement that would let them to ballot connected it quickly.

“I americium gladsome that successful the end, cooler heads prevailed. The authorities volition enactment unfastened and I convey the members of this enclosure for walking america backmost from the brink of an avoidable, needless and costly shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The Senate approved the measurement by a ballot of 69-28.

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 afloat 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 votes, 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.

Some Republicans opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules wanted Congress to instrumentality a hard basal against the mandated shots for workers astatine larger businesses, adjacent if that meant shutting down national offices implicit the play by blocking a petition that would expedite a last ballot connected the spending bill.

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.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Democrats knew past period 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 Schumer 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.

Lee and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., authored an amendment that prohibited national dollars being spent to instrumentality and enforce a bid of vaccine mandates enactment successful spot by the Biden administration. The amendment went down to decision with 48 yes votes and 50 nary votes. But having the ballot opened the doorway to taking up the afloat spending measure immediately.

Lee said millions were being forced to take betwixt an unwanted aesculapian process and losing their job.

“Their jobs are being threatened by their ain government,” Lee said.

“Let’s springiness employers certainty and employees bid of caput that they volition inactive person a occupation this caller year,” Marshall urged earlier the vote.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., countered that the national authorities should beryllium utilizing each instrumentality to support Americans harmless and that is wherefore the Biden medication has taken steps to impulse employers to marque definite their workers are afloat vaccinated oregon trial antagonistic earlier they travel to the workplace.

“No 1 wants to spell to enactment and beryllium disquieted they mightiness travel location to their household with a deadly virus,” Murray 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 were 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.

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.