On December 2, the U.S House of Representatives passed H.R. 6119, the “Further Extending Government Act,” on a mostly partisan vote of 221-212. The legislation, a “continuing resolution” (“CR”) of funding levels from fiscal year 2021 (FY21), is the second CR of FY22 to extend funding designed to forestall the federal government from running out of funds. Since none of the twelve FY22 appropriations bills were passed by Congress, a CR is necessary to prevent the government from shutting down, impacting federal programs and personnel.
Shortly after House passage, the U.S. Senate also passed H.R. 6119 on a bipartisan vote of 69-28, after disposing of an amendment by a group of conservative Republican senators to block funding to implement a new private sector vaccine mandate. The CR extends funding until February 18, 2022. This extension would allow congressional negotiators time to complete action on the separate appropriations bills, or another CR will be required to keep the federal government open.