CNN –
The Senate voted Thursday to approve an extension of short-term government funding that would avoid a shutdown later this week. The bill passed on a bipartisan 72-25 vote.
Government funding is currently set to expire at midnight on Friday, but the interim bill would extend the funding until December 16, setting up a potential funding scramble at the end of the year.
The House will then have to pass the measure once it passes the Senate before it can be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.
Lawmakers have expressed confidence there won’t be a shutdown, but it’s typical of Congress in recent years to meet funding deadlines.
In part, this is because opposing parties find it easier to reach last-minute deals to avoid a shutdown under tight time pressure.
This time, neither party wants to be blamed for a shutdown, especially so close to the consequent midterm elections in November, where control of Congress is at stake and as Democrats and Republicans try to make their case to the voters who should be in the majority. Lawmakers running for re-election are also eager to finish work on Capitol Hill so they can return to their home states to campaign.
In addition to money to keep government agencies afloat, the short-term funding measure introduced earlier this week provides about $12 billion for Ukraine as it continues to counter Russia’s invasion of the country, and would require the Pentagon to report on how US dollars have been. passed there Aid to Ukraine is a bipartisan priority.
The continuing resolution would also extend an FDA user fee program that expires over five years.
The Senate held a key vote to advance the government funding measure earlier this week after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, dropped a request to include a controversial permit reform proposal that had been the subject of harsh criticism from Republicans and liberals.
The plan would have expedited the permitting and environmental review process for energy projects, including a major pipeline that would run through Manchin’s home state of West Virginia. Senate Democratic leaders had been pushing to pass it along with government funding as a result of a deal cut to secure Manchin’s support for the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, a key party priority , which was approved during the summer.
But Republicans warned they would vote against the effort to tie the permitting reform to the funding extension, in part because they did not want to reward Manchin for his support of the Inflation Reduction Act.
At the same time, some liberal members of the Senate Democratic caucus had expressed concern about the environmental impacts.
The $12 billion in additional funding for Ukraine provides money for the US to continue sending weapons, money to replenish US weapons stocks that have been sent to Ukraine over the past seven months during the ongoing conflict, and economic support additional
In order to continue providing Ukraine with weapons to counter Russia’s offensive, the bill allocates an additional $3 billion to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This pot of money allows the U.S. to acquire and buy weapons from the industry and ship them domestically, instead of taking directly from the U.S. arms stockpile.
The bill also authorizes an additional $3.7 billion in funding for the Presidential Withdrawal Authority, which allows the U.S. to ship weapons directly from U.S. stockpiles, and includes $1.5 billion to “replenish stockpiles of ‘US teams’ provided to Ukraine, a fact sheet from Senate Democrats on lays out the bill.
The bill designates $4.5 billion for the “economic support fund” to provide “support to maintain the functioning of the national government of Ukraine,” the fact sheet states.
The United States has provided Ukraine with significant economic and military support since the Russian invasion of the country began in February, committing “more than $16.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine” since the Russian invasion began in February , a Department of Defense statement said Wednesday. .
This story and headline have been updated with additional updates.