UPDATED: Senate passes funding bill to likely thwart weekend shutdown

The Senate approved a stopgap spending bill on Thursday afternoon that funds the government through mid-December, sending it to the House and likely averting a government shutdown that would hit in less than 48 hours.

The stopgap would fund the government through Dec. 16, granting congressional appropriators more time for talks on a broader funding package before the end of the year. After passing the Senate 72-25 the measure now heads to the House, where top Democrats told members Thursday morning that they could pass the bill as soon as Thursday evening. A vote could easily spill into Friday, however, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk before the midnight deadline.

Senate leaders reached an agreement to speed passage of the short-term funding fix on Thursday after Biden signed off on a temporary 100 percent federal cost-share waiver for typhoon aid in Alaska, appeasing the state’s GOP senators. Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana also backed off an effort to delay the vote after he secured floor time to expound on the benefits of balanced budgets.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said her disaster relief request, which would allow the federal government to shoulder more of the cost burden for typhoon recovery in the state for the next 30 days, was resolved by Biden’s decision to amend the state’s disaster declaration.

“So we’re in a better position,” she told reporters.

Braun also said digging in on his budget-related amendment to hold up a vote on the stopgap would be “counterproductive.”

“I’m reasonable as a rule. That’s why I got 10 minutes of floor time to talk about it,” he said.

The relatively smooth path to final passage comes after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pulled his controversial proposal to ease energy permitting from the bill, amid broad opposition from Senate Republicans and a handful of Senate Democrats.

The temporary funding patch, Congress’ last major to-do item before the midterm elections, provides more than $12 billion in emergency military and economic funding to respond to the war in Ukraine. It also includes $1 billion in heating assistance for low-income families, $20 million for the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., billions in disaster aid and more than $112 million for federal court security.

The measure also includes a five-year reauthorization of the user fee programs that fund much of the FDA’s work, and it would allow FEMA to spend billions of dollars through the Disaster Relief Fund at a higher rate, while federal officials rush to respond to devastating hurricanes that have slammed into Florida and Puerto Rico.

Members of Congress are eager to return home ahead of the midterms, particularly in the House, where lawmakers are not scheduled to return until November. House Democrats’ top appropriator confirmed Thursday morning that they were waiting on Senate passage before setting any votes in the lower chamber.

“So much depends on when they’re going to get this over to us. That’s what we’re waiting for,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said, adding: “We could do this tomorrow, it’s gonna get done.”

Sarah Ferris and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.