The House of Representatives will vote Nov. 19 to push the current continuing resolution deadline to Dec. 20, with hopes that lawmakers will complete negotiations for outstanding fiscal year 2020 funding bills in the extra month.
The vote, which was announced Monday by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), comes two days before the current continuing resolution is set to expire Nov. 21. “We must use this additional time to fully fund the government before the end of the year,” Hoyer said in a Monday statement.
Lawmakers have expected the current continuing resolution to be extended at least until December for some time as negotiations have been throttled by a number of partisan issues, most notably the Trump administration’s desire to use $8.6 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. That issue has stymied conference talks for the FY ’20 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as well as Senate appropriations votes on defense, homeland security and other departments.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Monday introduced the House amendment to H.R. 3055, which extends government funding at FY ’19 levels through Dec. 20, for agencies including the Departments of Defense, Energy and Water, and of Homeland Security. It provides a 3.1 percent pay raise for all uniformed personnel.
“With a government shutdown deadline just days away, this continuing resolution is necessary to keep government open as we work toward completing the appropriations process,” said Chairwoman Lowey.