The Senate has passed a stopgap funding measure to avoid a government shutdown that now heads to the president’s desk and voted to move into formal conference negotiations with the House on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
A day after the House voted 336-95 for the continuing resolution, the Senate on Wednesday evening approved the measure with an 87-11 vote that allows Congress additional time to complete work on final fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills.
“I will vote for this bill to avoid a senseless shutdown, although I don’t care for this idea of two funding deadlines and double the shutdown risk. But the big picture I am focused on right now is what happens next, because avoiding a shutdown is so very far from mission accomplished. We have a lot of work to do after the dust settles and before the next shutdown deadline comes up. Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back—it is time to roll up our sleeves and pass supplemental funding to address urgent global challenges and critical priorities here at home,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, said on the floor ahead of the CR vote.
The new CR, passed just two days before the Nov. 17 shutdown deadline, was proposed by new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and is a two-step, or “laddered,” measure that temporarily funds a handful of agencies and programs, such as those covered by Military Construction-VA, Agriculture, Energy-Water and Transportation-HUD spending bills, until Jan. 19 and all remaining agencies and programs, to include defense, until Feb. 2 (Defense Daily, Nov. 13).
The stopgap funding measure supports $3.3 billion to avoid delays on the Columbia-class submarine program but does include aid for Ukraine or Israel from the Biden administration’s recent supplemental spending request.
The House’s CR vote on Tuesday received more support from Democrats than Republicans, with 93 GOP members voting against the bill.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus ahead of Tuesday’s vote voiced opposition to Johnson’s proposal of a “clean” CR, which does not include spending cuts or policy riders.
In the Senate, 10 Republicans and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) voted against the CR measure, with the latter noting his opposition to the bill’s lack of Ukraine assistance.
“In September, I objected to a short-term bill that failed to provide future funding to Ukraine. I thought our lack of military and humanitarian support would embolden Ukraine’s opponents, who have worked to undermine our resolve since the beginning of this war. Tonight, I voted against this funding bill because it similarly failed to include aid for Ukraine,” Bennet said in a statement. “Congress must work swiftly in the coming weeks to craft an aid package that supports our allies in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and provides humanitarian aid to Gaza. We have no time to waste.”
Following the CR approval, the Senate voted 90-8 in favor of a measure to formally begin conference negotiations with the House on the FY ‘24 NDAA.
“I appreciate my colleagues for recognizing the need to ensure that this year’s national defense legislation receives a strong conference in accordance with precedent and the good working order of Congress,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement. “Senate Republicans worked hard to include several key provisions in this year’s bill related to improving military readiness, eliminating toxic social policies, and accelerating procurement of the ships, aircraft, and munitions we need to deter China and other adversaries in the years ahead. It would be a disservice to these efforts to dispense with the traditional conference process.”
Ahead of the Senate’s vote, two senior members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday suggested the effort to finalize the NDAA may be done without a formal conference following the Senate’s delay in initiating the process (Defense Daily, Nov. 15).
The NDAA conference process involves a group of House and Senate lawmakers meeting for formal negotiations to settle on a final conferenced agreement for the bill that includes compromises and priorities from both sides and is then taken up by the two chambers.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on HASC’s Seapower Subcommittee, said on Tuesday that HASC’s staff has been working on NDAA conference items for the last two months to prepare for the negotiation process to finalize the legislation with the House having named its negotiators in September.
“I think there’s been a real narrowing of the issues that need to sort of get flushed out. I think we would prefer doing it the old-fashioned way like Schoolhouse Rock, where the two sides conference,” Courtney said.
The House narrowly passed its $886 billion version of the NDAA in mid-July with a 219-210 vote, which followed days of debate over Republican proposals that included adopting measures along party lines to reverse Pentagon policies on abortion and block diversity programs (Defense Daily, July 14).
In late July, the Senate voted 86-11 to pass its own $886 billion version of the bill, which followed a much less contentious debate than compared to the House’s process (Defense Daily, July 28).