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September 30, 2023

Congress averts a shutdown

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)

Congress averted a government shutdown — for 45 days.

After a frantic week that saw the House and Senate on different planes of reality and the White House pretty much absent, Congress passed a bill today to fund the federal agencies at FY2023 levels until Nov. 17. The legislation reauthorizes the FAA and the national flood insurance program through the end of this year. There’s $16 billion for disaster relief accounts, too.

The House passed the continuing resolution 335-91. Ninety Republicans voted no, as did just one Democrat — Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley.

The Senate followed suit, voting 88-9 to approve the bill. But only after Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) held the bill up for several hours as he sought assurances the chamber would vote on additional Ukraine aid in the weeks ahead.

We’re going to use this rare Saturday evening edition to break down all of our reporting inside the House and Senate leadership, including in-depth analysis of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the future of Ukraine aid. There’s also some reporting on Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who pulled a fire alarm on the way to the House vote.

Thank you for reading.

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— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Heather Caygle, Andrew Desiderio, Mica Soellner and Max Cohen

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A message brought to you by RTX

Brilliant new ideas can come from everywhere. That’s why we invest heavily in STEM education, helping build a career-ready, diverse talent pipeline to tackle tomorrow’s most complex challenges. Learn more at RTX.com

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