Senate Passes Government Funding Measure to Avoid Government Shutdown

The Senate passed a government funding bill without an increase in the debt ceiling Thursday to avoid a federal government shutdown.

The Senate passed H.R. 5305, 65-35, the continuing resolution (CR), on a broad bipartisan basis. The CR notably did not include a provision to suspend or increase the debt ceiling.

Senate Republicans have continued to fight congressional Democrats on the debt ceiling; Republicans want to prevent an increase in the debt ceiling to not enable the Democrats to spend $3.5 trillion on their social spending reconciliation bill.

The CR would fund the government through December, although Congress will still have to address the debt ceiling in early October.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement after the vote:

Despite controlling the Senate, the House, and the White House, Democrats in Washington, D.C. have refused to govern responsibly and instead focused on radically transforming our country and destroying our economy with crushing tax hikes and spending sprees.

Unfortunately, when they finally got around to funding the government, they cynically tied critical disaster relief to a dangerous ploy to bring in unvetted Afghan evacuees who could pose a security threat to the United States.

The legislation I voted against today will make America less safe. It gives President Biden a blank check to continue pursuing reckless policies that deepen the crisis caused by his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. As we know, President Biden and his administration failed to vet tens of thousands of evacuees that it brought into the United States and explicitly confirmed they facilitated the trafficking of child brides and the travel of evacuees they later linked to security threats. This bill ignores those acute human rights and national security concerns and instead relies on an inadequate vetting procedure. It then provides evacuees with indefinite federal welfare benefits and enhanced IDs that facilitate access even to flights and federal buildings. I could not support a bill that will deepen this humanitarian catastrophe and prevent us from beginning to undo the damage President Biden has done.

Before the Senate voted on the CR, the Senate shot down three Senate Republican amendments to the CR.

Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) amendment, which would have limited federal benefits to Afghan refugees.

Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Roger Marshall’s (R-KS) amendment that would have banned the use of federal funds to implement vaccine mandates.

And Democrats blocked Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-IN) amendment to prohibit Congress from receiving pay if Congress cannot pass appropriations or spending bills.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the chair of the appropriations committee, moved to remove the debt-limit language from the continuing resolution. This was approved unanimously by voice vote.

The bill will move to the House, in which the chamber will likely quickly pass the bill. Biden will soon after likely sign the bill to avoid a government shutdown. The federal government runs out of money at the end of Thursday.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said in a recent statement:

The CR extends funding for critical education, health, housing, and public safety programs through December 3, delivers $28.6 billion in desperately needed disaster relief, and provides $6.3 billion to address needs created by the end of the more than 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.