Senate Reaches Bipartisan Funding Agreement Seeking To Avoid Government Shutdown

Senators reached a bipartisan agreement on a continuing resolution in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday.

Funding for the federal government will expire at 11:59 p.m. EST on Saturday, with House Republicans so far having been unable to achieve consensus within their conference on a continuing resolution to temporarily maintain funding until all appropriations bills are passed. Schumer announced on Tuesday that negotiations between senators have produced a draft bill that the House may consider, according to a post on Twitter, now known as X.

“The Senate’s bipartisan CR is a bridge away from extremism and towards cooperation, to spare American families the pain of a shutdown, and to allow us to keep working to fully fund the federal government,” Schumer wrote. “This week, the Senate is moving forward.

The text of the bill, which was released by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray’s office, would keep the government funded until Nov. 17 and largely maintain funding at levels specified for the previous fiscal year along with reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) as well as community health programs. However, it would also include funding for Ukraine to aid its war against Russia, which House Republicans have vehemently opposed.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Tuesday that he supported the deal. “At the end of the day, a government shutdown would be an unnecessary disruption of the important work of the Senate’s agenda,” McConnell wrote in a statement released by his office, adding that he “urge[d] each of my colleagues to work this week to avoid one.”

The Senate bill comes amidst an impasse in the House Republican Conference, which holds the majority by merely four seats, on the language of a bill, with several House conservatives opposing any bill that doesn’t include border security measures among other policy priorities. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has so far avoided dealing with House Democrats to pass a bill amid threats that some Republicans may force a vote to remove him from office.

Schumer didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.