One day before Friday’s deadline, the House of Representatives has passed a month-long extension that would fund the government and avoid a shutdown just before the holidays.
The stopgap spending bill, which would keep the government running until January 19, passed the GOP-controlled House by a vote of 231-188 and now heads to the Senate for a possible vote later tonight.
The House legislation includes a short-term, six-month extension of CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, that expired Oct. 1.
The bill punts other big-ticket items into the new year, setting up continued battles over immigration, defense spending and other issues.
The House also voted 251-169 Thursday night to approve an $81 billion emergency disaster relief package to aid hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida and Texas– as well as states hard hit by wildfires.
The vote was bipartisan – with 182 Republicans joining 69 Democrats – to create a majority and send the bill to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.
Fifty-one Republicans voted against the bill, mostly due to concerns that the money for disaster relief is not offset with spending cuts because it is considered “emergency” relief.
Another 118 Democrats opposed the disaster aid for various reasons, some because they were shut out of the drafting, while others said the funding was inadequate.
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