House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R., Ky.) will unveil today a 3-week continuing resolution that would keep the government running through April 8 and cut federal spending by $6 billion. The bill will include cuts taken straight from the Senate Democratic spending plan, and none of the controversial policy riders contained in the GOP House bill, H.R. 1. Both measures were voted down in the Senate this week (more here).
This will be the second short-term spending resolution proposed in the 112th Congress. It will give lawmakers additional time to negotiate a long-term compromise for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September 30). The current CR expires on March 18.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be drawing a line in the sand, indicating that they’ll accept this 3-week CR, but will not support any additional short-term spending measures. “For me, it’s the last time,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said on the House floor this afternoon. President Obama at a press conference today said it was “irresponsible” to run the government on a week-to-week basis, and a senior Treasury official even indicated that the president would veto any further short-term measures, a move that would lead to a government shutdown.