The House today approved a stopgap spending measure to avoid a shutdown for 11 Cabinet-level departments whose budgets won’t be enacted by a midnight Saturday deadline.
The measure would give Congress until Dec. 18 to finish seven incomplete spending measures that were supposed to be wrapped up by Sept. 30. The bill passed by a 247-178 vote and now goes to the Senate, which must pass it this week to avoid a partial shutdown.
The legislation also extends highway programs and federal loan guarantees for larger mortgages.
The anti-shutdown measure was attached to a remarkably generous spending bill for the Interior Department and environmental programs, one that pumps billion of dollars into clean and safe drinking water projects.
The bill rewards Interior and the EPA with increases of $4.7 billion over 2009 levels, an increase of 17 percent. The biggest increases go to EPA grants to state and local governments for sewage treatment projects, wastewater treatment and clean drinking water projects.
There’s $5 billion in the measure for such clean water projects, including 333 so-called earmarks sought by lawmakers in both parties, such as $500,000 for Fremont, Ohio to deal with sewer overflows during heavy rains and $400,000 for Washburn, N.D., for improvements to its drinking water treatment plant.
The generosity raised hackles with Republicans, who said the increases are simply unaffordable — and unsustainable — given the government’s dismal deficit picture.
“The 17 percent increase in this agreement is irresponsible, especially in light of the fact that Congress must soon consider legislation to increase our national debt,” said Jerry Lewis of California, top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. “It is no wonder that Americans across the country are losing confidence in this Congress.” (AP)
