WASHINGTON — Congress approved a one-week spending measure Friday that averts a government shutdown, providing lawmakers with extra time to finish negotiations on a long-term spending package.
The move also avoided the political embarrassment of a shutdown occurring Saturday, President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office.
The approval of the short-term measure Friday, which occurred during daylight and without drama, was a display of basic competence more than it was a legislative achievement.
With their party in control of both houses of Congress as well as the White House, Republicans could not afford to fail at the fundamental task of keeping the government funded.
At the same time, the spending talks displayed the limitations of the unified Republican government, as Republicans need Democratic votes in order to keep the government open.
The measure approved Friday, known as a continuing resolution, sustains government operations at current funding levels through next Friday. By that point, congressional leaders hope to have passed a spending package that will cover the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
“A continuing resolution is never anyone’s first choice for funding the government,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “However, this is our best path forward.”
Final negotiations on the long-term spending package played out this week as House Republican leaders tried to round up the necessary votes to move ahead on another consequential matter, the repeal of the health care law.
Some White House officials had hoped a vote on a revised House bill to repeal the health law would take place before Saturday — a step that, if successful, would have showed that Trump was making progress on a central campaign promise.
This week, the revised bill won the backing of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which received much of the blame for the demise of the House’s earlier repeal bill in March, a legislative catastrophe for Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan.
But the revised bill has drawn opposition from a sizable group of moderate Republican members, and House Republican leaders opted not to hold a vote on the measure Friday.