House action on CR delayed until next week

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2014 – Discussion of a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent another government shutdown will be delayed until next week as members of Congress gather more information about potential U.S. military actions in Iraq and Syria.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said members could consider the CR as early as Tuesday. Without a CR, the government will shut down at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., earlier this week introduced a “clean” short-term CR that would keep the government open until Dec. 11. Discussions have been occurring around Capitol Hill about potentially including in the CR an authorization for President Obama’s proposed action against ISIL. House members received a classified briefing on the matter this morning.

In a statement on the House floor Thursday afternoon, McCarthy said members need time to digest the information received at the briefing. He said the House will act “as one . . . as Americans,” in its stance against the radical Islamist group.

“I think I speak for my colleagues on both sides of the isle when I say we stand ready to listen and work with the president on this growing threat,” McCarthy said on the floor on Wednesday.

Rogers’ bill, H.J. Res. 124, contains several additional provisions such as funding for State Department programs to counter regional aggression toward former Soviet Union countries, continued oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a provision allowing for additional funds to offset food price increases in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

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