The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Submitted photo by Thomas Lin)
Indiana’s senators were divided on a funding package that would avert a government shutdown just days before Thanksgiving.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., voted in favor of the package, while Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., who is now running for Indiana governor, voted against the measure, according to congressional records.
The Senate ultimately passed the funding package in an 87-11 vote and sent it to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The measure provides a funding patch into next year, when the House and Senate will be forced to confront — and somehow overcome — their considerable differences over what funding levels should be, The Associated Press reported.
In the meantime, the bill removes the threat of a government shutdown days before funding would have expired.
The Senate vote came one day after the House voted to pass the measure in a 336-95 vote after new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan.
House Republicans representing Indiana also were divided on the bill. Reps. Greg Pence, Jim Baird and Larry Bucshon voted for it, while Reps. Jim Banks, Erin Houchin, Victoria Spartz and Rudy Yakym voted against it.
The two House Democrats from Indiana, Reps. André Carson and Frank Mrvan, voted in favor of the bill.
The spending package keeps government funding at current levels for roughly two more months while a long-term package is negotiated, according to wire reports. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others, creating two deadlines where there will be a risk of a partial government shutdown.
The spending bill also does not include the White House’s nearly $106 billion request for wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian funding for Palestinians and other supplemental requests. Lawmakers are likely to turn their attention more fully to that request after the Thanksgiving holiday in hopes of negotiating a deal.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who crafted the plan, has vowed that he will not support any further stopgap funding measures, known as continuing resolutions. He portrayed the temporary funding bill as setting the ground for a spending “fight” with the Senate next year, according to wire reports.
