The Senate has passed H.R. 719, a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR), by a vote of 78-20.
The CR will fund the government through Dec. 11 and contains no controversial riders. The House also passed the CR and the president has signed it into law. This short-term extension opens the door for Congress and the president to begin negotiations to remove sequestration caps and raise funding levels.
Closely related, Congress needs to raise the debt limit as part of the end-of-year legislative calendar.
The debt limit is the total amount of money the U.S. government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds and other payments.
The Treasury Department is currently using “extraordinary measures” to avoid default and preserve borrowing capacity. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew anticipates the department has the ability to use extraordinary measures through early December. Congress must raise the debt limit before then or the country will default on its obligations.