The Senate passed a short-term funding package on Saturday that was passed by a bipartisan vote in the House just hours before a deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
The House voted 335 to 91 to pass a 45-day budget extension before the Sept. 30 deadline, with 90 Republicans voting no, alongside one Democrat. The Senate voted hours later to pass the bill by a 88-9 vote, which included no aid for Ukraine but does include disaster relief funding that the White House previously requested. (RELATED: ‘I Don’t Want To Be Part Of That Team’: McCarthy Reacts To Republicans Who Opposed His Efforts To Avoid Gov Shutdown)
The vote was reportedly held up by Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who raised concerns that the funding didn’t contain any aid for Ukraine, according to NBC News.
“I think it was really, really important for us to send a signal to the world,” Bennet told reporters. “We’re gonna continue to work in a bipartisan way to get Ukraine the funds.”
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters following the Senate Democrats weekly policy lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2021. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California chastised his Republican colleagues who voted against the funding earlier in the day. “Today wasn’t the choice we wanted to have,” McCarthy said. “We tried to pass the most conservative stopgap measure possible. We put it on the floor, but unfortunately, we didn’t have 218 Republicans who would vote for that, to help us secure the border then.”
The Senate passed a package Tuesday that included $4.5 billion in aid for Ukraine but did not put an emphasis on the southern border, a move that many House Republicans criticized. The House also made an attempt to stave off a shutdown Friday by passing the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act, which provided funding through Oct. 31 focusing on the border and immigration, but the Senate rejected the measure.
President Biden informed reporters earlier this week that he did not intend to speak with McCarthy regarding the shutdown. However, CNN reported that the White House “kept in touch” with the speaker throughout the day Saturday regarding the votes and McCarthy’s future as speaker.
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