The House of Representatives is expected to vote on a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running beyond Thursday and buy extra time for the Senate to approve a long-term bill.
The House Monday had hoped to unveil a $1 trillion so-called ‘cromnibus’ bill that would fund most of the federal government through September 2015 and fund the Department of Homeland Security through February or March 2015.
The bill wasn’t posted as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, stalled by bickering over a handful of issues, including whether or not to attach a government-supported insurance program to protect against terrorist attacks to the legislation.
House aides said that insurance program will now be voted on as a separate matter and the ‘cromnibus’ will be introduced later Tuesday, possibly in time for the House to vote on it Thursday.
The federal government runs out of money Thursday if Congress fails to act. To avoid the possibility of a government shutdown, the House plans to approve a short-term continuing resolution – or CR – to keep the federal agencies and programs operating while giving the Senate enough time to act on the ‘cromnibus’ once the House passes it.