The House followed the Senate this evening in passing a bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. 

The vote in the House on H.R. 2775 as amended was 285-144.  The amended bill, the Continuing Resolution Act, 2014,  now needs only the President’s signature, which he has agreed to do.

The bill funds the government through January 15, 2014 at current levels and raises the debt ceiling until February 7.  It contains a number of other provisions as well, including allowing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to spend its funds so as to protect the launch dates of its new weather satellites.

The Senate passed the bill earlier this evening by a vote of 81-18.   One Republican Senator did not vote.

Correction:  An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that there is one vacancy in the Senate as an explanation for why there were 99 instead of 100 votes.  However, the discrepancy is because one Republican Senator did not vote.   Cory Booker did win an election in New Jersey tonight to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg, as earlier reported, but the Lauternberg seat is currently filled on a temporary basis by Senator Jeff Chiesa, so there is no vacancy.  The Senate vote tally is posted on the Senate website.

UPDATE, October 17, 2013, 12:37 am ET:   The President has signed the bill into law.

ORIGINAL STORY, October 16, 2013, 11:50 pm ET:  President Obama is expected to sign the bill that reopens the government and raises the debt limit tonight and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is telling furloughed federal workers to return to work tomorrow morning, Thursday, October 17. 

The FY2014 Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2775 as amended) passed the Senate this evening by a vote of 81-18 and the House by a vote of 285-144.  All no votes were Republican.  All Democrats who cast a vote, voted yes. 

In the Senate, 27 Republicans joined the 52 Democrats and two Independents (who usually vote with Democrats) in voting in favor of the measure.  (One Republican Senator did not vote.)  A tally of the vote is posted on the Senate’s website.

In the House, 187 Republicans joined all 198 Democrats who voted in passing the bill.  (There are three vacancies in the House, and one Republican and two Democrats did not vote).  A tally of the vote is on the House website.

To recap, the bill:

• funds the government at current funding levels through January 15, 2014, the date when the next phase of the sequester kicks in;
• raises the debt limit until February 7, 2014;
• retroactively pays furloughed federal workers;
• requires income verification for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare); and
• includes a number of other provisions, including allowing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allocate its funding so the launch dates for its new weather satellites — the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R series — are maintained.

The bipartisan agreement also calls for a conference committee to be appointed to develop a long range budget agreement to reduce the deficit, although that is not included in the legislation.

The bill ends a 16-day partial government shutdown.  Shortly after the House vote, OMB director Sylvia Matthews Burwell issued a statement to federal employees saying “Now that the bill has passed the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, the President plans to sign it tonight and employees should expect to return to work in the morning.  Employees should be checking the news and OPM’s website for further updates.”  OPM is the Office of Personnel Management.

On this 16th day of the partial government shutdown and one day before the Treasury hits the debt limit, Senate leaders reached agreement to resolve the stalemate.  The White House accepts it and there is optimism that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will bring it to the floor of the House for a vote even if a majority of Republicans do not support it.  If he does, the expectation is that it will pass with most Democratic and some Republican votes.

The deal between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is similar, but not identical, to the plan they agreed to on Monday and that many House Republican members opposed.   Today’s plan would:

• fund the government through January 15 at current levels (January 15 is when the next phase of the sequester is supposed to kick in),
• raise the debt limit until February 7,
• establish a House-Senate conference committee to negotiate agreement on a longer term budget plan by December 13,
• require income verification for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare),
• pay furloughed federal workers retroactively, and
• provide emergency funding for Colorado to recover from its recent historic flooding.

Other changes to Obamacare proposed in earlier House or Senate versions — such as defunding or delaying it,  repealing or delaying the medical device tax, or delaying a reinsurance tax — were dropped.

At the moment, the plan is for the Senate to vote on the proposal this afternoon.   Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who are viewed as the originators of this budget and debt ceiling standoff with their goal to defund Obamacare, reportedly have indicated that they will not filibuster the measure, allowing it to come to a vote expeditiously.

There is broad optimism that it will pass the Senate and Boehner then will allow a vote in the House even if he does not have a majority of his Republicans on board.  Boehner released a statement this afternoon saying “The House has fought with everything it has to convince the President of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations… That fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us.”

Under an informal rule dubbed the Hastert Rule after former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the House Republican leadership is reluctant to bring a bill to the floor unless there is a “majority of the majority” in favor of it; that is, most of the members of the Republican caucus.   Boehner ignored that rule at the beginning of the year in order to win passage of legislation to avert the “fiscal cliff,” but it is risky politically and he has avoided it so far.  Boehner reiterated yesterday, however, that he strongly believes the government should not default on its debt and the debt limit will be reached tomorrow, adding urgency to resolving the stalemate. 

 

Yesterday’s optimism that today would be the day agreement would be reached to reopen the government and raise the debt limit dissipated as House Republicans tried and failed to come up with a plan that could win enough Republican support to pass that chamber. 

Senate leaders who sounded hopeful last night suspended their discussions awaiting House action, but resumed them this evening when it became apparent the House would not pass anything right now.

The situation remains very fluid.  All that can be said this evening is that the point at which the government no longer will be able to borrow money to pay its bills — the debt limit — is just two days away, the government is about to enter its 16th day in partial shutdown mode, and agreement remains elusive.  House Speaker Boehner reiterated today that he did not want to put the government in the position of defaulting on its debts, which is what will happen if the debt limit is not suspended or raised:  “I have made clear for months and months that the idea of default is wrong and we shouldn’t get anywhere close to it,” he said after meeting with his Republican colleagues.  But here it is just two days away and a deal to raise the limit still is not forthcoming.

As for getting the government back to work, the House has been passing several narrowly written bills to fund specific parts of the government. With only two exceptions — both related to military spending — the Senate has refused to take them up, however.  None would fund NASA or NOAA or any of the government’s science agencies other than the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one indication of where those activities fall on the House Republican priority list.

The roller coaster ride continues with more rumors that a deal is near to reopen the government and raise the debt limit, followed by more waiting and uncertainty.

At the end of last week, it appeared as though House Repubicans and the White House were close to agreement, but that fell through Thursday night.   Attention turned to the Senate where it appeared that Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) had come up with a winning strategy, but that fell by the wayside over the weekend.   President Obama was set to meet at 3:00 pm this afternoon with House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders to figure out next steps, but the meeting was postponed when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicated that they were close to agreement and just needed a little more time.

The afternoon wore on without an announcement.  As the Senate was about to adjourn for the day just after 6:00 pm ET, Reid said on the Senate floor that he and McConnell had “made tremendous progress” but “we are not there yet … and everyone just needs to be patient,” adding later that “we’re doing our best to make everybody happy but everyone knows we’re not going to be able to do that.”  McConnell said “we’ve made substantial progress and look forward to making more progress in the near future.”

It is important to bear in mind that even if the Senate reaches agreement, there is no guarantee that the House will go along. 

For what it’s worth, the deal Reid and McConnell are working on reportedly would:  fund the government through January 15 at the FY2013 level of $986 billion; raise the debt limit until early-mid February; set up negotiations that would have to be completed by December 13 on a long term budget agreement; require income verification to qualify for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare); delay for one year a reinsurance tax included in Obamacare; and give agencies more flexibility in making budget cuts required by sequestration.   The next phase of sequestration kicks in on January 15, which is how that date was chosen as the deadline for government funding.

With the government shutdown still in place, it is difficult to know precisely what space policy events will take place in the coming week, but here is what we know right now.  The House and Senate will be in session trying to find a solution to the situation.

During the Week

As the partial government shutdown enters its third week and the deadline for exceeding the $16.7 trillion debt limit nears — Thursday is the day according to current estimates — the good news is that the rhetoric in Washington has cooled even if there is no deal yet.  

Here’s the state of play as of Sunday afternoon as best as we can tell from a wide variety of news reports.  

Despite hopeful signs on Thursday after a meeting with a small group of House Republicans, the President rejected the proposal they ultimately sent him because they were not willing to negotiate over raising revenues (taxes), only on spending cuts and entitlement reform.  For the past three years, President Obama has consistently insisted that any discussions of reducing the deficit include both spending cuts and revenue increases.  Republicans just as consistently insist that they will not agree to any revenue increases.

The President met with Senate Republicans on Friday, and with the House Republican proposal off the table, attention has shifted to the Senate.   A proposal developed under the leadership of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) looked promising, but Senate Democratic leaders rejected it yesterday, the same day that Republicans defeated a Democratic proposal to extend the debt limit.   The debt limit does not permit additional spending; it allows the government to borrow money to pay bills it already owes.

The Democratic proposal, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), would have raised the debt limit by $1 trillion until December 31, 2014, past next year’s mid-term congressional elections.  It did not address the issue of reopening the government.   A motion to bring to the bill to the floor was rejected on a party line vote 53-45; 60 yes votes were needed.

The Republican proposal did not even get that far before being rejected by Senate Democratic leaders.  Collins put forward a draft plan that included funding the government for six months and raising the debt limit until January 31.  However, the six months of government funding would have been at a lower spending level than Democrats want.   The three important numbers are:  $967 billion, how much money the government could spend in FY2014 under the sequester; $986 billion, the amount of money the government could spend in FY2013 under the sequester and, under a typical Continuing Resolution (CR), would be the level at which spending continues until FY2014 appropriations bills are passed; and $1.058 trillion, the funding level approved by the Senate in its Budget Resolution this spring that does not take account of the sequester, which Democrats want to replace with another means of deficit reduction.   The Collins proposal was for six months of spending apparently at the $967 billion level, not the current $986 billion level, and Senate Democrats were willing to settle only for the $986 billion figure and for a shorter time period.   

The Collins proposal also would have delayed a medical device tax that is part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) for two years and required income verification to qualify for subsidies under that Act, as well as given agencies more flexibility in applying sequester-related funding cuts and set up a conference committee to work out a long term plan.  It was the spending level, however, that reportedly torpedoed the proposal.  There was no guarantee that House Republicans would agree with the Collins’ plan either, but for a few days it did look like the Senate might reach some sort of consensus with that as its core.  Collins told CNN this morning that she remains optimistic that the situation will be resolved this week and some parts of her plan will be included.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says that the debt limit will be reached Thursday and must be raised or suspended by then or the government will default on its debts.   House Speaker John Boehner said a week ago that he would not allow the government to default, so perhaps that deadline will force consensus, but it is far from certain.  The Senate remains in session today; the House returns tomorrow.

Sunday-Saturday, October 13-19

• Earth Science Week  INFORMATION STILL CAN  BE ACCESSED AT ITS WEBSITE, BUT EVENTS ARE POSTPONED UNTIL AFTER THE SHUTDOWN

Monday-Thursday, October 14-17

• Reinventing Space Conference (also known as the Responsive Space Conference), Los Angeles, CA  WILL TAKE PLACE WITH MODIFIED AGENDA

Tuesday, October 15

• WSBR Luncheon Featuring Steve Collar, O3b, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET  STILL ON TRACK AS FAR AS WE KNOW
• ISC-DC Space Cafe Featuring John Logsdon, GWU, The Science Club, 1135 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 7:00 pm ET  STILL ON TRACK

Wednesday-Thursday, October 16-17

• International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS), Las Cruces, NM  STILL TAKING PLACE AT THIS POINT, PRESUMABLY WITH MODIFIED AGENDA IF SHUTDOWN CONTINUES

As the partial government shutdown ends its eleventh day, there still is no deal to either reopen the government or raise the debt limit.   All sides, however, are using their public words to convey that they are working together to find a solution, even if currently there are several conflicting proposals out there.

President Obama met with Senate Republicans today, completing a set of meetings over the past three days with, separately, House Democrats, House Republicans (though only a small hand-picked group participated), Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans.  

Yesterday, House Republicans proposed raising the debt limit for 6 weeks (until November 22) with no deal on reopening government.   Today, they revised their proposal to add a two-track approach to dealing with the other issues:  parallel negotiations where one track would focus on FY2014 spending and the other on broader budget issues including entitlement reform, tax reform, and spending cuts.   President Obama reportedly spoke with House Speaker Boehner late this afternoon and indicated that he would not agree to the revised proposal because he also wants revenue increases to be part of the discussions.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats reject the idea of a 6-week debt limit increase because they do not want to end up having this same debate next month.  They are working on a proposal that may be voted on tomorrow to raise the debt limit by $1 trillion through December 2014, past next year’s congressional elections.  It also would not reopen government.  Senate Republicans, led by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), are crafting a proposal to reopen the government for 6 or 12 months, raise the debt ceiling, and repeal or delay a tax of medical devices that is part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  The medical device tax is widely unpopular in both parties and the President reportedly agreed today that it is not a core element of that law.

All parties plan to work through the weekend.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing today on the economic impact of the shutdown.   Marion Blakey, President of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), and Alan Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), were two of the witnesses.   Not surprisingly, they tesified that the shutdown is having widespread, negative impacts on aerospace and scientific research.  

SpacePolicyOnline.com has published a summary of the hearing.

Note:  This article was updated on October 12, 2013 adding a link to SpacePolicyOnline.com’s summary of the October 11 hearing.

On this tenth day of the partial government shutdown, the possibility that the government may be forced to default on its debt next week has taken center stage instead.   House Republicans are proposing a temporary agreement to raise the debt limit.  It would not end the government shutdown and would last for only 6 weeks.  Early indications are that as long as the bill avoids partisan policy issues, the President likely would sign it even though it would do nothing to reopen the government.

President Obama met with all House Democrats yesterday and is meeting with House Republicans today, though Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declined the President’s request to meet with all House Republicans and instead only 18 will participate in this afternoon’s meeting.

This morning, the House Republican Conference agreed to a new proposal from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) to raise the debt limit until November 22.   A House vote could occur this afternoon, but not until after the meeting with the President.  Boehner said that the President’s reaction to this proposal will determine what happens next.  The President has been insisting that House Republicans raise the debt limit and reopen government before he will negotiate on issues such as entitlement reform, tax reform, future government spending, and changes to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

“It is our hope that the president will look at this as an opportunity and a good-faith effort on our part to move halfway, halfway to what he’s demanded in order to have these conversations begin,” Boehner said after the House Republican Conference meeting this morning.

The Associated Press quotes White House spokesman Jay Carney as saying early this afternoon that the President “would likely sign” a bill that only increases the debt limit temporarily as long as it does not include “partisan strings,” and cautioning that the White House has not yet seen the House Republican proposal.  The White House apparently is sticking to its guns that it will not negotiate on other issues until the government is reopened, but will be somewhat more flexible in order to avoid a default.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are intent on passing a long-term extension to the debt limit.   They want to raise the debt limit by $1 trillion through December 2014, past the mid-term congressional elections that will take place next year.  A vote on that bill is scheduled for Saturday, but whether there are sufficient votes for it to pass is uncertain.  That bill also would not reopen the government.

The current debt limit is $16.7 trillion, which Treasury Department officials say will be reached next week — around October 17.  Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew testified to the Senate Finance Committee this morning listing the “potentially catastrophic impacts” of failing to increase the debt limit, which include “credit market disruptions, a significant loss in the value of the dollar, markedly elevated U.S. interest rates, negative spillover effects to the global economy, and real risk of a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse.”

The debt limit is the amount of money the government can borrow to pay bills it already owes.  It does not allow for additional spending.  Spending is permitted through appropriations bills and other laws that provide benefits (often called entitlements) such as Social Security and Medicare.  Republicans and Democrats have been at odds for years over how to reduce the deficit (the difference between how much money the government brings in versus how much it spends).  Republicans want to reduce it only by cutting spending, while Democrats wants a combination of spending cuts and revenue (tax) increases.  The deficit debate is about future spending, however.  The debt limit debate is about paying the bills for laws that Congresses passed and presidents signed in the past.