Six-week government funding bill is proposed

The Senate was scheduled to take a procedural vote on Tuesday afternoon to keep the government running until early March, a six-week extension from the stop-gap funding bill now in place. If Congress fails to act, funding for the USDA and four other federal departments would expire on Friday.

Under the plan unveiled over the weekend, the USDA and the four other departments would be funded through March 1 and the rest of the government, now facing a Feb. 2 cut-off, would receive funding through March 8. The Biden administration urged Congress last week to provide an additional $1 billion for WIC for the rest of the fiscal year so the program can serve all applicants.

“No one back home wants to see a shutdown or chaos, so let’s quickly pass this CR and work to finalize serious appropriations bills, free of partisan poison pills, that protect key investments in our country’s future.” said Senate Appropriations Committee chair Patty Murray.

To read a summary of the short-term funding bill, click here.

The text of the short-term funding bill is available here.