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March 14, 2011 at 09:14 AM
Lawmakers agreed March 11 to a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for three weeks past the previous CR deadline of March 18. This short-term CR, which expires April 8, is expected to be considered by the House this week.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., who introduced the CR, said this second short-term funding extension to prevent a government shutdown would be a holdover while congressional negotiations continue on a long-term plan to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year.
“A government shutdown is not an option, period,” Rogers said in a statement. “While short term funding measures are not the preferable way to fund the government, we must maintain critical programs and services for the American people until Congress comes to a final, long-term agreement.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (left), D-Nev., said in a statement that while the cuts in the three-week CR includes those “already proposed by Democrats that will also be free of any ideological, special-interest legislation,” Congress cannot continue “to run our government two or three weeks at a time.” While it’s “crucial that we avoid a government shutdown,” he continued, “continually resorting to stopgap spending bills is bad long-term policy and could be bad for our economy.”