Congress tees up vote on two-step stopgap bill to avert partial shutdown

Congress will once again look to avert a partial government shutdown with a two-step, or laddered, stopgap-funding bill this week before a Friday deadline to fund the government and avoid a partial shutdown.

The latest stopgap bill will extend the time lawmakers have to fund the government until March 1 and March 8, according to official text released Sunday. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, teed up a Tuesday vote for the stopgap known as a continuing resolution or CR.

“To avoid a shutdown, it will take bipartisan cooperation in the Senate and the House to quickly pass the CR and send it to the president’s desk before Friday’s funding deadline,” Mr. Schumer said. 

When lawmakers return after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, they will have just four days to pass the stopgap bill through both chambers to avert a partial shutdown.

This short-term funding patch is similar to one previously passed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, which set funding deadlines for Friday and Feb. 2. Mr. Johnson pitched the bill to House Republicans on a conference call Sunday night, where fierce opposition from hard-liners was expected.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, previously vowed to never again pass a stopgap bill after the one passed in November, but time ran out as Republican lawmakers quarreled over spending levels.

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Schumer unveiled a deal for new spending numbers last week, which was immediately panned by the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives. Mr. Johnson stood by the $1.66 trillion overall spending cap, weathering calls to renegotiate the deal and threats to oust him.

A growing list of conservatives have vowed to neither support spending legislation that adheres to the Schumer-Johnson deal nor a stopgap bill to give appropriators more time to finish work on their spending deals.

Mr. Johnson likely will have to rely on Democratic votes to pass the stopgap bill.

• Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.