Lowey, House Democrats Release Individual Bills To Reopen Government, End Trump Shutdown

January 6, 2019
Press Release
Legislation is virtually identical to four appropriations bills that the Senate has already passed 92-6

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY-17) today released the text of individual appropriations bills to end the Trump Shutdown. These four bills, which are expected to be considered in the House this week, will immediately reopen key parts of the federal government and stop the harm the Trump Shutdown is inflicting on American families, businesses, and communities.

The House will first consider the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, which funds the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, to ensure that hardworking Americans can receive their tax refunds on schedule. The remaining bills will cover Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

“While Senate Republicans acting at the behest of President Trump have blocked our bipartisan, comprehensive plan to end the government shutdown, it is urgent that we take steps to reopen parts of the government that most directly affect working families. These bills, which have already passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote, do exactly that,” Chairwoman Lowey said. “Unless Congress acts, the American people will not receive their tax refunds, families will lose food stamps, homebuyers seeking mortgages will remain in limbo, and our National Parks will continue to accumulate garbage and waste. These bills will stop this chaos, get many federal employees back on the job, and ensure that key parts of the government are working for the American people. After we pass these four bills, the Senate should clear them and the President should sign them into law.”

The four bills are virtually identical, except for technical, conforming, and necessary scorekeeping changes, to bills that passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote on August 1, 2018. The text of the four bills was also included in H.R. 21, which passed the House with a bipartisan 241-190 vote on January 3. The only substantive change between those bills and the four bills released today is language to ensure that federal workers furloughed by the Trump Shutdown receive pay.

Full text of the bills can be found at the links below:

Summaries of the bills, prepared when they were passed in the House last week, can be found at the links below:

116th Congress