Congress bought itself some time Thursday night when the Senate approved a one-week stopgap spending measure. The deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown was Friday, and now lawmakers have more time to iron out the details on a much larger spending package.
The Senate's vote on the continuing resolution follows the House's on Wednesday night. The bill now goes to President Biden.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are still working to get what they want into an omnibus package that addresses that nation's spending through September 2023.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he hopes members can put together the permanent spending plan so they can direct funds to the military, send aid to Ukraine and fund other domestic priorities.
Key negotiators declined to go into details of the proposal or overall numbers but said earlier this week that there was bipartisan agreement on a framework.
There is some opposition to this larger spending plan, though. For example, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California earlier this week slammed Democrats for trying to rush the package through Congress.
"They want to raise the spending, bring more inflation, create more 'wokeism' in the legislation they want to pass through it and not even give members an opportunity to read it or see it," he said.
The budget for the fiscal year is submitted by the president and outlines spending goals for the upcoming year. Congress then works to hash out what items will stay and what will go.
Biden's proposalcalled for $5.8 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year, including $1.6 trillion in discretionary spending. Congress had signed a different continuing resolution in September to avoid a shutdown.
The stopgap spending measure passed on a vote of 71-19.
NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.
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