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House Passes Temporary Budget

Late on Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to approve a thirty-day budget for the U.S. government.

The next step for the House's budget bill is the Senate, where it must get 60 "ayes" in order to make it to President Donald Trump's desk. This effort may be futile: Senate Democrats seek to freeze the process in order to secure protections for DACA Dreamers.

President Trump & Speaker Ryan

The bill extends Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding for six years and delays certain Obamacare taxes.

Much to the chagrin of conservative House members and Democrats, the budget does not address illegal immigration. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the Republican majority leader in the Senate, addressed this in a tweet:

Just so #Senate Democrats know, #DACA does not begin to face a deadline until March, at the earliest. The deadline to fund the government and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is TOMORROW.

The House's budget was passed on a party-line vote with no Democratic representatives in favor. The final tally was 230-197.

Since the Democratic opposition against President Trump and the GOP is strong in the Senate, it is quite possible that no budget will be passed in the upper body. This would lead to the first government shutdown since 2013, putting 800,000 government employees temporarily out of work and leaving the fate of CHIP in the balance.

By pushing the 30-day budget through the House, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) effectively bounced the ball into the court of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. Ryan wrote, "I’m urging Senate Democrats to abandon their reckless shutdown strategy."

Concerning the Democrats' intentions, The Hill wrote:

Senate Democrats say they have the votes to block a government funding stopgap measure that is expected to pass the House on Thursday evening, but they’re hoping to avoid a government shutdown that could inflict political damage on their vulnerable incumbents.

Bloomberg acknowledged the GOP's strong vote-counting operation in the House, writing, "In a show of strength, House Republicans had enough support within their own ranks to pass the measure without help from Democrats."

The article continued, explaining how exactly the GOP was able to secure the support of the Tea Party caucus:

Some members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus withheld their support through much of the day Thursday, but reached a last-minute agreement with Speaker Paul Ryan to hold votes later on a conservative immigration bill and a measure to boost defense spending without increasing non-defense spending.

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