GOP tees up stopgap funding bill

House Republicans aim to vote as soon as Tuesday on a stopgap funding bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year and avert a partial government shutdown.

The 99-page measure comes ahead of a Friday midnight deadline for government funding. If the House passes it Tuesday, the Senate would have to take it up almost immediately. Assuming all 53 Senate Republicans vote for it, they would still need at least seven Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster.

The continuing resolution, which Republicans unveiled Saturday, mostly extends current-level spending through Sept. 30 but trims about $13 billion from fiscal 2024 levels. A $6 billion boost in defense spending leads to funding levels of roughly $7 billion less from last year. Among the cuts are billions for earmarked projects from individual lawmakers for community projects.

Leaders have called it a "clean CR" although it does include a number of "anomaly" requests from the White House. That includes $2.2 billion more for the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its disaster relief fund and $4.5 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development for low-income families rental assistance.

For the municipal bond market, government shutdowns mean the loss of federal funds in key sectors like transportation, energy, healthcare and for cities and states ? which would compound existing uncertainties around the Trump administration's efforts to freeze funding.

Direct-pay bonds like Build America Bonds are subject to cuts under sequestration. Without a new funding bill, an automatic sequester kicks in April.

The measure has the support of President Donald Trump, who urged Republicans to carry the measure unanimously.

"Remain UNITED ? NO DISSENT ? Fight for another day when the timing is right," Trump posted on his Truth Social website. "Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country's 'financial house' in order."

Full Republican support would indicate the party may be able to also carry through the complex, massive tax reconciliation bill later this year.

The CR "maintains critical services for our constituents and provides the largest pay raise for our brave junior enlisted heroes since President [Ronald] Reagan," House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said in a statement. "With no poison pills or unrelated riders ? the bill is simple: extend funding and certainty for the nation."

The continuing resolution is the first in a series of challenges facing Republicans, who also must tackle reconciliation legislation and the looming debt ceiling.