HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Cutting it down to the wire, Capitol Hill has averted a federal government shutdown with the passage of a 45-day stopgap measure.
Congress passed the funding bill, which was signed Saturday night by President Joe Biden. The House of Representatives voted 335-91, while the Democratic-majority Senate voted 88-9 to pass the measure to avoid the federal government’s fourth partial shutdown in a decade. The continuing resolution will fund the federal government at previous levels for 45 days.
“While a continuing resolution is not ideal, it prevents a harmful government shutdown. It gives us more time to pass an appropriations bill on the floor of the House and allows us to start negotiations (of) final full-year bills with the Senate,” Texas Rep. Kay Granger, Appropriations Committee chair, said.
On Friday, Granger had voted on a different version of a short-term funding bill which included a key border security measure and, while she continues her advocacy, she noted that the “most important priority is keeping the government open.”
“Passing this bill is the best way for us to move the process forward,” she said, urging her colleagues to support the 45-day stopgap measure.
The measure presented by Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a compromise, said Guam delegate James Moylan.
“While some Democrats expressed their disappointment in not having funding for Ukraine in today’s measure, it was articulated throughout the morning that the priority needs to be the U.S. federal government prior to foreign governments,” Moylan said in a press release issued Saturday.
With the final vote, and the president’s signature, federal employees on Guam can rest easy for now.
“If enacted, the federal funding provided to Guam, including compensation for our service members, will remain intact. Those federal services, which would have been either delayed or postponed due to employees or programs being deemed as nonessential, would remain status quo. We are now awaiting the decision of the Senate. This is a clean (continuing resolution) with the replenishment of the disaster relief fund. Hence, there is some optimism. But we shall see,” Moylan said in the release issued before the bill was signed.
The measure aims to keep the government running at 2023 appropriation levels, prorated over the next 45 days, while providing the House additional time to debate on the eight remaining appropriation measures for fiscal year 2024.
“One of those measures passed late Thursday night was the House Appropriations defense bill, which included Del. Moylan’s amendment to increase the funding of the Guam Missile Defense by an additional $100 million,” Moylan’s office said in the release.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is shown in this undated file photo.
Del. James Moylan speaks during a press conference Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Hagåtña.
