The Senate will vote on whether to support a seven-week long continuing resolution by the end of this week, the chamber’s senior Republican leader said Sept. 23.
Congress has just one week to pass a CR to keep funding the government at fiscal year 2019 levels before the Sept. 30 deadline, and the Senate will vote on the House-passed CR bill to continue negotiations on appropriations bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Monday.
“Before the end of the week, we’ll vote on a continuing resolution to prevent a lapse in funding while the work continues,” he said.
The House passed the short-term CR – which funds the government through Nov. 21 – on Sept. 19 by a vote of 301-123 (Defense Daily, Sept. 19).
McConnell also used his floor speech Monday to call for the Senate to work together to pass the fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill, blaming Democrats for filibustering an effort to bring the bill to the Senate floor last Thursday, “for the sake of a political fight with the president.”
“But I remain hopeful that we can get this process back on track,” McConnell said.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Sept. 19 that a short-term CR would impact modernization efforts including work on the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), the service’s planned procurement of the Advanced Helicopter Training System and the Air Force’s B-52 GPS Interface Unit Replacement program (Defense Daily, Sept. 19).
The Senate is also expected to vote to confirm a number of military nominations this week, including President Trump’s nominees for Secretary of the Army — current Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy — and Secretary of Air Force — former Aerospace Corp. Chair Barbara Barrett.