Facing a Friday deadline for approval of its spending, the Senate approved a short-term funding plan on Thursday in order for the government to stay open through Jan. 19, CNN reports. The decision prevented a government shutdown and was also approved by the House with a 231-188 vote.
The short-term plan mainly covers government funding for almost a month, but also extends the funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (aka CHIP, the program Jimmy Kimmel has been promoting in honor of his infant son) through March 2018. The approved measure also allows for a three-week extension of a government surveillance program.
House passes short-term funding extension that would avoid a shutdown just before the holidays. https://t.co/Al4wJKgjUY pic.twitter.com/9xpEGZERA3
— ABC News (@ABC) December 21, 2017
According to the New York Times, the extension of funding basically saves Republicans from a major embarrassment, especially after the passing of the GOP tax bill. While a shutdown has been delayed for now, the decision only highlights how tense discussions about funding will be after the holidays. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a No. 2 Senate Republican, even told the Times, “It seems like Groundhog Day. We get up and do the same thing over and over and over again. It’s maddening.”
The funding extension also doesn’t cover potential bills protecting young immigrants and strengthening military and health insurance plans. Democrats were reportedly concerned about Congress not spending enough time on each major issue, and many were reportedly encouraged to vote ‘no’ because of a party desire to add an extension of DACA to the bill.
This funding bill passed by the Republicans today fails to include a long-term, bipartisan extension of children’s health insurance and makes harmful cuts to critical preventative health care for kids.
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) December 21, 2017
“We shouldn’t be funding the government week to week, month to month, but yet my Republican friends have ended up doing that,” Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern told the Times. “They can’t seem to get their act together.”
President Donald Trump addressed the funding extension on Twitter, insisting that Democrats in the House wanted a shutdown “to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts.”
House Democrats want a SHUTDOWN for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts. House Republicans, don’t let this happen. Pass the C.R. TODAY and keep our Government OPEN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2017
When Democratic Rep. Alcee L. Hastings read the tweet aloud at a House committee meeting, he said that he knew of no Democrat or Republican that wanted to shut down the government.