Senate sets stopgap passage vote for Thursday

The Senate reached an agreement late Wednesday night to speed up votes on a temporary funding patch that would thwart a partial government shutdown on Saturday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the upper chamber would vote on the measure at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, in addition to three Republican amendments that aren't likely to succeed and a manager's amendment.

The timeline would send the stopgap to the House for passage as soon as Thursday night, potentially leaving lawmakers just enough time to avoid both a government shutdown and another D.C. snowstorm threatening to sabotage their flights home.

The stopgap "will give Congress time to continue working on the appropriations process to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year," Schumer said on the floor. "We hope that the House will take up this bill before the Friday deadline with bipartisan support."

Once the Senate passes the funding extension, the House is expected to quickly clear it for President Joe Biden's signature, punting the government funding deadlines into March and preventing a partial government shutdown on Saturday that would affect the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Veterans’ Affairs, Energy and more.

The measure, known as a continuing resolution, will almost certainly have to move under suspension in the House, requiring a two-thirds vote threshold to send it to Biden’s desk. Speaker Mike Johnson will need substantial support from Democrats to move the stopgap through the lower chamber, while he faces increasing heat from his right flank over spending.

“Look, we have to get this done by Friday,” Schumer told reporters earlier Wednesday. “Speaker Johnson has said he wants to get this done. I think he has the support of the majority of the House and I think we’ll get it done quickly.”