House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) today released new legislation to reopen and fund most federal agencies through September 30. The legislation, H.R. 648, reflects bipartisan House-Senate conference agreements negotiated by Republican and Democratic appropriators in both chambers last year.
“House Democrats are committed to ending the Trump Shutdown by finding areas where both parties can agree and providing additional time to negotiate where we don’t. This bill reflects bipartisan compromise and merits strong support from both sides of the aisle and both ends of the Capitol," Chairwoman Lowey said. “We should pass this bill, reopen the government, and pay our federal employees. After we do that, we can have robust negotiations on border security and immigration policy."
The legislation reflects conference agreements for six appropriations bills: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. It also includes language to pay federal employees who have been working without pay or furloughed because of the Trump Shutdown.
It will be the tenth bill that House Democrats will consider to reopen the federal government. Since Jan. 3, the House has passed seven pieces of legislation to reopen the federal government, and a revote is pending on an eighth that was initially adopted by voice vote today. That includes an emergency disaster appropriations bill that included a CR through February 8, four individual bipartisan Senate appropriations bills, a package of six bipartisan Senate appropriations bills, and a CR for Homeland Security through February 8. A revote is pending on a Continuing Resolution that was initially passed today. House Republicans blocked the passage of a ninth bill, a CR through February 1. Senate Republicans, acting at the behest of President Trump, have refused to consider any of the House-passed bills.
The full text of H.R. 648 is available. The explanatory statement for Front Matter is available, Division A, Division B, Division C, Division D, Division E, and Division F. A division-by-division summary of the legislation is available.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
