The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on a short-term government funding bill to avert a shutdown at the end of next week.
Funding is currently set to expire on Feb. 18, but the measure the House is set to take up would extend funding through March 11.
Once the House passes the stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, the Senate would need to approve it before it can be sent to U.S. President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
Passage of the measure will be the latest in a string of short-term funding bills that lawmakers have passed and Biden has signed into law. Congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle have been working on a bipartisan basis to try to secure a full-year funding agreement, but a deal has not yet been reached.
There is bipartisan agreement that a broader funding deal is necessary as well as bipartisan concern over the limitations imposed on federal entities if the government is forced to continue operating under stopgap funding measures, especially at a crucial time for both domestic and foreign policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic and growing fears over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.
House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said in a statement introducing the stopgap bill that the "country needs a government funding agreement to create good-paying jobs, growxjmtzyw opportunity for the middle class, and protect our national security."
"We are close to reaching a framework government funding agreement, but we will need additional time to complete the legislation in full," the Connecticut Democrat said, adding that the stopgap bill will "keep government up and running while Congress completes our important work."
