Kicking the can down the road, but no coronavirus relief yet.
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on a one-week stopgap funding bill to provide for more time for lawmakers to reach a deal on an overall spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Before the bill, funding would have run out Friday at midnight but is now extended until December 18.
The Senate is expected to follow by the end of the week, sending the measure to President Trump to sign into law. Although the stopgap bill provides a government funding extension, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell emphasized the urgency for a bipartisan coronavirus relief bill on the Senate floor, calling for expediency over total compromise. Partisans “do not need to resolve every one of our differences to get badly needed relief out the door,” he said.
The long-awaited coronavirus relief is not included in the stopgap legislation, but lawmakers hope the one-week extension will give Congress more time to enact a broader $1.4 trillion “omnibus” spending bill that would include COVID-19 relief—if they can reach a deal on both fronts. But that is an optimistic “if” as members of Congress have not been able to agree for months on another round of aid to mitigate the effects of shutdowns intended to curb the spread of the virus.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the Senate as they convene to approve the stopgap bill.
- That the team drafting the coronavirus relief bill would have clarity in their meetings.
- For members of Congress to come together to fund the government for more than a week at a time.
- For God’s blessing on the leadership of Senator Mitch McConnell.
Sources: Reuters, CBS News
