House Passes Short-Term Spending Bill, Funding Government Through March 23

The House passed a stop-gap spending bill on Tuesday that will fund the government through March 23.

The House passed the short-term spending bill 245-182, featuring mostly Republican votes.

The House Freedom Caucus backed the government spending bill because the spending bill will fund the Defense Department for one year. The Freedom Caucus said in a statement, “The House Freedom Caucus supports the House Republican plan to pass a CR to March 23 that includes full funding for the military and community health centers.”

The spending bill will also allow the Energy Department to make sales of the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve and will finance community health centers for two years.

The government will shut down if congress fails to pass another spending bill on Friday.

Republicans will have trouble trying to pass a stop-gap funding bill through the Senate; Democrats want to match increases in non-defense to defense spending for the year. Republicans control Congress’s upper chamber with 51 members and need nine Democrats to back any government spending bill.

This spending bill will not address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens, as Republicans and Democrats have agreed to address immigration reform in separate legislation.