The stopgap continuing resolution was signed into law Friday, according to a senior administration official, providing Congress fiscal 2019 funding until Nov. 21 to finish annual appropriations bills, CQ reported Friday.
Meanwhile, House and Senate appropriations staff will try to resolve common subcommittee allocations over the two-week congressional, according to CQ.
Once congressional staff reach agreement, it would clear the way to begin “pre-conferencing” the 12 fiscal 2020 spending bills, a process that could begin even if the Senate has not passed any of its appropriations bills, according to the report.
Reaching agreement on spending appeared to be the topic of Friday’s meeting between Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and the White House.
The House has passed 10 spending bills, while the remaining two were reported out of committee, and the the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved 10 spending bills, but two have been stalled including the Military Construction-VA bill.
The Senate’s MilCon-VA bill, differing from the House version, is expected to include $3.6 billion to replenish funding for DOD construction projects appropriated in prior years but has been redirected to southern border barrier construction.
Shelby has said passing the Defense appropriations measure is a priority, but he and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are also proposing advancing appropriations bills that had unanimous bipartisan support in committee in the absence of a larger agreement over the stalled Defense and Labor-HHS-Education bills, the report said.