On Tuesday evening, the Senate released a deal that is likely the last chance to avert a government shutdown.
The 79-page bill would keep the government open until Nov. 17 and also provide about $6 billion for the war effort in Ukraine and another $6 billion for disaster relief efforts in places like Maui and Florida.
“It will continue to fund the government at present levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine's security and humanitarian needs while also ensuring those impacted by natural disasters across the country begin to get the resources they need," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also endorsed the deal, calling it a "standard, responsible step forward."
The additional funding for Ukraine is divided into approximately $4.5 billion in direct assistance plus another $1.65 billion for State Department aid. The money for disaster relief efforts would help replenish the FEMA disaster relief fund, which has been running low lately in the face of an array of natural disasters.
"5,000 [FEMA] employees will be put at risk in what they call lapse of funding if the government shuts down," former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told Yahoo Finance recently.
The deal includes other measures like a short-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, which is also set to expire this weekend.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) immediately pledged to delay the process of considering the deal. That news raised questions about whether the agreement can even pass the Senate before Saturday night, when the government is scheduled to shut down.
“I don’t support the CR,” added Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) in a Yahoo Finance Live interview Tuesday afternoon, but it remained unclear if he would join efforts to delay the bill past the shutdown deadline.
While the deal is likely to eventually pass the Senate with widespread bipartisan support, all 100 senators need to quickly agree to allow that final vote to come. Otherwise, the proceedings will be delayed until after the shutdown deadline.
An uncertain fate in the House
Even if the deal passes the upper chamber, it faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives where House Republicans have repeatedly failed to coalesce behind their own proposal to avert a shutdown, but nevertheless rejected efforts at bipartisan compromise.
Some far-right Republicans have even vowed to try and remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post if he allows a vote on a bipartisan bill. They reiterated those calls on Tuesday night but news of a Senate deal also increases the pressure on the Speaker to act.
In his own press conference Tuesday night, Speaker McCarthy declined to comment on the Senate deal but instead said House Republicans would unveil and try to pass their own plan Friday to avert a shutdown with a bill focused on border security measures, even after a similar plan stalled last week.
The inclusion of the money for Ukraine was also an immediate flash point, increasing resistance from House Republicans who oppose any additional aid to the war effort. Some Senate Republicans also plan to try and change to the bill to remove the Ukraine funding, reports Politico.
Others were more blunt about the entire package. “We should just look at it and throw it in the trash,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told CNN.
The Senate's deal was released after a weekend of negotiations among both Democrats and Republicans, Schumer said Tuesday, adding, “I urge reasonable and patriotic members of both chambers [to] move forward, freed from the extremist partisans hell-bent on destroying faith in government.”
The effort to keep the government open until Nov. 17 is designed to allow more time for negotiations over a broader spending deal that Congress must pass before the end of the year.
This post has been updated with additional developments.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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