Stopgap passes House, DOE lawmakers say programs need funding

WASHINGTON — The House passed Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) continuing resolution Tuesday evening 217-213, a measure that would fund the government until Sept. 30.

There was one Democrat that voted “yes,” despite party wishes, and one Republican holdout in the vote. 

Senators will vote on the bill at earliest Wednesday morning to avert the government shutting down and running out of money March 14.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose district abuts the DOE Hanford site, voted for the continuing resolution (CR) but told the Exchange Monitor that “as an appropriator” he “certainly would have preferred to get the appropriation bills but that was not an option, so here we are. But I never want to see the government shut down either, because I’ve lived through that and that ends up costing us more.”

“I just want to make sure that those are the bills that are considered and not getting back to this one,” Newhouse added, referring to the 12 appropriations bills that passed through committee including the Energy and Water bill that would fund the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Meanwhile, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), whose district abuts Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, voted against the bill. The lawmaker told the Monitor that “it’s not a CR. It’s a six month funding bill, so it will be the funding for the rest of fiscal year 25.”

“There is not congressional language about what we want done in any of the programs,” Fernandez added. “It gives [Elon] Musk and Trump the ability to cut and slash as they want.” 

The idea that they would slash positions, that they would fire the people we need to keep us safe in the nuclear arena shows that they don’t know what they’re doing.,” Fernandez said. 

So we don’t want them to have more power because they reeled it in a way that is dangerous for New Mexicans, dangerous for America, dangerous for the world.”

Fernandez also mentioned that the bill would “hit New Mexico hard” because it has a “larger federal workforce than other states, closer to 20%… so the ramifications are horrible.”