Senate leaders race to pass stopgap spending bill before potential snowstorm

The Senate is likely to pass a temporary funding patch on Thursday, if leaders can quickly lock in an agreement on roughly a handful of Republican amendments, Minority Whip John Thune said Wednesday night.

That timeline would send the stopgap to the House with just enough time for lawmakers to avoid both a government shutdown and another D.C. snowstorm threatening to sabotage their flights home.

Senate leaders are “still going back and forth,” negotiating votes on amendments to the continuing resolution, Thune (R-S.D.) said. He predicted passage Thursday, though he didn’t rule out the possibility of a vote Wednesday evening.

Once the Senate passes the funding extension, the House is expected to quickly clear it for President Joe Biden’s signature, punting the government funding deadlines into March and preventing a partial government shutdown on Saturday that would affect the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Veterans’ Affairs, Energy and more.

“Obviously, this week, we have to pass a continuing resolution,” Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Wednesday. “We should be able to accomplish that, maybe with a few amendments, to make sure the government doesn’t shut down.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said he expects the upper chamber will pass the measure on Thursday, barring any “last-minute drama” from Republicans. If Senate passage is relatively swift, the House could take up the bill later Thursday, before more snow is expected to blanket Capitol Hill on Friday.

The measure, known as a continuing resolution, will almost certainly have to move under suspension in the House, requiring a two-thirds vote threshold to send it to Biden’s desk. Speaker Mike Johnson will need substantial support from Democrats to move the stopgap through the lower chamber, while he faces increasing heat from his right flank over spending.

“Look, we have to get this done by Friday,” Schumer told reporters Wednesday. “Speaker Johnson has said he wants to get this done. I think he has the support of the majority of the House and I think we’ll get it done quickly.”