House to push 45-day continuing resolution on floor that excludes Ukraine funding

The House of Representatives will be taking up a 45-day continuing resolution which would include disaster relief funds but no funding to aid Ukraine, as a potential government shutdown looms.

The continuing resolution will be voted on suspension, meaning it will need a two-thirds vote of the House to pass. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters about the proposed stopgap bill, emphasizing the inclusion of disaster relief funds.

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“The House is going to act so government will not shut down. We will put a clean funding stopgap on the floor to keep government open for 45 days so the House and Senate to get their work done. We will also, knowing what had transpired through the summer, the disasters in Florida, the horrendous fire in Hawaii and also disasters in California and Vermont. We will put the supplemental portion that the President asked for in disaster there to keeping the government open,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.

Lawmakers are hoping to get a vote on the bill on the House floor within the next two hours before the Senate meets to vote on their continuing resolution proposal at 1 p.m. Some Republicans are optimistic the bill will get the necessary Democratic support to pass, even as some in the GOP conference say they will not back to bill.

“I suspect a lot of Democrats will vote yes,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK).

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Bob Good (R-VA) have already said they will not vote for the bill, which will be brought up for a vote later Saturday.

Funding for Ukraine has been a major sticking point for several of the right-wing Republican members of the House, with several members threatening to vote no on any package that includes the funds. On the Democratic of the aisle, funding for Ukraine has been more popular, and the Senate has already backed a continuing resolution that includes funds for Ukraine.

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If a continuing resolution is not agreed to before Oct. 1, then the government will shutdown, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed or have to work without pay. The government has not shutdown since the December 2018-January 2019 shutdown, which lasted 35 days.

A government shutdown would see many federal agencies closed down, with the exception of essential services for the federal government. Those still required to work would do so without pay until the government reopens. Congress would still receive its pay during the shutdown, because it is constitutionally mandated.