House passes stopgap bill to avoid looming government shutdown

Paul Ryan.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

On Tuesday evening, the House passed a six-week stopgap bill that would fund the Pentagon at elevated levels for the rest of the fiscal year while keeping funding the same for non-defense programs.

The vote was mostly along party lines, at 245-182. It's likely this will fail in the Senate, where Democrats want full-year spending increases on domestic programs, not just the military. With another shutdown set to begin at midnight Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have been holding frequent budget talks, and McConnell said he thinks "we're on the way to getting an agreement and getting it very soon." Earlier in the day, President Trump said if Republicans can't get a budget deal that tightens immigration laws, he would "love to see a shutdown."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.