Lawmakers also passed disaster aid, temporary funding for state children’s health programs and a short-term reauthorization of a government surveillance program.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., right, discuss the government funding bill on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The Associated Press
The House on Thursday narrowly passed a pair of bills temporarily funding the government for four weeks, sending the legislation to the Senate with just over a day left to avoid a shutdown.
Deeply divided lawmakers voted 231-188 to cover spending through Jan. 19 and then 251-169 on an $81 billion package of emergency recovery funds for areas hit by hurricanes and wildfires this year before heading to the exits for the Christmas holiday.
The government funding legislation also provided money through March for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which expired in September amid dire warnings from states that children would be left without critical care as soon as next week. It extended the government's foreign surveillance authority – set to expire at the end of the year – through Jan. 19 and provided a waiver so that that tax overhaul legislation would not automatically trigger spending cuts to Medicare.
Current funding runs out at midnight on Friday. Before Thursday's House vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate was "ready" to take the measures up immediately in order to get them to President Donald Trump's desk before the deadline.
