US House panel advances funding bill to end partial government shutdown

WASHINGTON

The US House Rules Committee advanced legislation Monday to end a partial government shutdown.

The committee advanced the funding package in an 8-4 party-line vote.

The lower chamber is expected to vote on final passage Tuesday.

The government entered a partial shutdown over the weekend when senators advanced legislation that did not include funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

On Friday, the upper chamber overwhelmingly approved legislation to reopen agencies funded under five regular appropriations bills while also extending a two-week stopgap funding measure for the DHS.

The shutdown, which began at 12.01 am Saturday, left large swaths of the federal government and roughly 45% of the federal workforce in uncertainty amid a sharp dispute over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, particularly in the state of Minnesota, affecting agencies including the Pentagon, Treasury and the departments of State, Transportation, Homeland Security, Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.

If the House passes the measure on Tuesday, any disruption is expected to be minimal.

There is limited interest in Washington in repeating a lengthy shutdown like the one that stretched for 43 days late last year.