The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday approved a three-week stopgap funding plan to keep the federal government open through March 11 after the current continuing resolution expires on Feb. 18.
The full House voted Tuesday evening 272-to-162 to approve the short-term extension while appropriators continue to work on a spending plan to carry the government through the rest of fiscal 2022, which ends Sept. 30. Senate passage and the signature of President Joe Biden are still needed.
“I am glad that the House acted quickly to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government through March 11th, and I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to take it up and pass it,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a Tuesday press release. The following day Leahy issued another statement saying “bipartisan, bicameral negotiators have agreed on a framework for fiscal year 2022 appropriations.”
House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) proposed the latest short-term extension, the Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act, largely keeping spending at fiscal 2021 levels, on Monday. The measure allows some deviations, such as providing increased funds to avoid delays in the Columbia Class Submarine program.
Like the current continuing resolution remains largely level with fiscal 2021 levels for the Department of Energy and other agencies. The DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy stays at $1.5 billion, the Office of Environmental Management at $7.6 billion, with a little more included for the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning fund, and the National Nuclear Security Administration, at $19.7 billion.
An online breakdown shows one House Democrat voted against the measure. Meanwhile 51 Republicans, including Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) whose district includes the Hanford Site, as well as Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), whose district includes the Oak Ridge Site, voted in favor of H.R. 6617. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), whose district includes the Savannah River Site, voted against it.
The House and Senate are wrestling to address the remainder of 2022 fiscal year funding as they plan to hear President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1.
