Congress Passes One-Week Spending Bill, Avoids Shutdown

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The House passed a one-week extension of government funding on Friday to prevent a government shutdown, and the Senate followed suit despite Democrats still harboring some objections to "poison pill" riders in the larger spending package lawmakers have been negotiating to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

The extension, considered Friday with just hours to go before a shutdown, is meant to buy Congress more time to reach an agreement on a larger spending package.

In the Senate, Republicans tried to pass the bill on Thursday night, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said all 52 Republicans were on board, but Minority Leader Chuck Schumer objected, insisting a deal first be reached on the larger spending package before agreeing to pass the one-week extension.

But Friday morning, Schumer said the negotiations had progressed to the point where he was comfortable moving forward, noting that the "four corners" of the negotiations – leaders of both parties in the House and Senate and in the appropriations committees – had worked until early Friday to hammer out the details of the agreement.

"We still have several issues to address. Our Republican friends – mostly in the House, I want to say my friend the Republican leader is really working hard to get a good bill done and I appreciate that – but Republicans are holding us up on some critical poison pill riders," Schumer said Friday on the Senate floor. "But we've made good enough progress ... we're willing to have a voice vote in the hopes we can wrap this up early next week."

Schumer noted some outstanding issues still need to be addressed before Democrats agree to the underlying bill, but noted Democrats had won some victories to obtain increases in funding for housing assistance, year-round Pell Grants and the National Institutes of Health.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-04-28/senate-house-pass-one-week-extension-to-fund-government-avoid-shutdown

This is a pathetic display of incompetence from the people elected to run our government.

Apparently, the only thing they can agree on is to run the government with no budget.

[Bigun]

This is a pathetic display of incompetence from the people elected to run our government.

Apparently, the only thing they can agree on is to run the government with no budget.

They agree on preventing ANY swamp draining if at all possible!

[Oceander]

Silly people; if the government shuts down the GOP will get blamed for it, again, and it will have more sting in the 2018 elections than it had during Obamas administration. 

Better accept the fact that so long as the mass media are an agitprop platform for the democrats, the GOP will always be blamed for a shutdown, no matter who actually caused it. 

[Frank Cannon]

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Silly people; if the government shuts down the GOP will get blamed for it, again, and it will have more sting in the 2018 elections than it had during Obamas administration. 

Better accept the fact that so long as the mass media are an agitprop platform for the democrats, the GOP will always be blamed for a shutdown, no matter who actually caused it.

What if there's a gov't "shutdown" and no one outside the beltway notices?  One of these days, this shutdown garbage is going to blow up in the Dems faces.

[Oceander]

What if there's a gov't "shutdown" and no one outside the beltway notices?  One of these days, this shutdown garbage is going to blow up in the Dems faces.

That'll happen only if the media cease being agitprop mouthpieces for the democrats.  I for one won't be counting on that to happen anytime soon. 

[Bigun]

Silly people; if the government shuts down the GOP will get blamed for it, again, and it will have more sting in the 2018 elections than it had during Obamas administration. 

Better accept the fact that so long as the mass media are an agitprop platform for the democrats, the GOP will always be blamed for a shutdown, no matter who actually caused it.

I don't believe that to be true! The media will TRY to pin it on the republicans again but I don't believe they can make it stick this time!

[Cyber Liberty]

I don't believe that to be true! The media will TRY to pin it on the republicans again but I don't believe they can make it stick this time!

Schumer's been moving the goalposts and bragging about it for weeks.  I don't know if that will translate into people actually knowing who's driving the trainwreck.  If they do, it will be the first time in many, many years.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I don't believe that to be true! The media will TRY to pin it on the republicans again but I don't believe they can make it stick this time!

I think they'll be able to pin it on the R's for about as long as they want to (aka forever).

I also think that sooner or later (probably later) people are going to realize that despite all of the wailing, their day-to-day lives just aren't affected by "shutdowns".  Eventually they become seen as a joke.  And maybe, just maybe, a few more people will start to question just how much value the federal government really brings to the table.