The House of Representatives voted 230-201 Friday to approve a stopgap spending bill that keeps the federal government including the Department of Energy open through Dec. 16.
The stopgap measure keeps spending for the DOE Office of Environmental Management at the fiscal 2022 level of about $7.9 billion on a prorated basis. There are no nuclear cleanup office exceptions or anomalies in this continuing resolution.
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee proposed a fiscal 2023 Energy and Water Development spending bill that would increase the Environmental Management budget to $8.3 billion. Earlier in July, the full House of Representatives passed its version keeping nuclear cleanup at $7.9 billion.
The action comes one day after the Senate approved the 77-day continuing resolution for fiscal 2023 appropriations in a 72-to-25 tally. Without the congressional approvals, much of the U.S. government would have shut down at midnight with the end of the fiscal 2022 budget year on Sept. 30.
The U.S. Senate passed the measure with 22 Republican members joining all 50 senators who caucus with the Democrats, House Appropriations Committee chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement to the House Rules Committee on H.R. 6833, the he Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill that keeps the government open beyond the mid-term elections in hopes that lawmakers come up with a longer-term solution before heading home for Christmas break.
