Government Shutdown Averted... For Now

Medioimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The House of Representatives approved the Senate’s version of a temporary spending bill Thursday, avoiding a government shutdown.

The stop-gap measure, known as a bridge continuing resolution, funds the government through the end of the day Tuesday, Oct. 4. The bill now heads to the White House for the president’s signature.

The CR, which funds the government at the $1.043 billion spending level agreed to earlier this year, was approved by unanimous consent during a pro forma session as members of the House are on a week-long recess to mark the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Thursday’s pro forma session lasted all of the five minutes and 17 seconds it took the House chaplain to deliver a prayer, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, to maneuver through parliamentarian procedure to approve the measure.

Speculation that a single lawmaker would object to the short-term CR and request a roll call vote left the bill’s passage in doubt, but in the end none of the 24 Republicans and 179 Democrats that voted against the House-passed bill last week appeared at the Capitol Thursday to withhold their consent.

Next week, the House will return to session and lawmakers will hold a vote on the Senate’s long-term measure that would fund the government at the same level through Nov. 18.

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