Mississippi delegation splits on 45-day stopgap federal funding measure

Lawmakers now have until November 17th to negotiate the next spending package.

On Saturday, Congress avoided a government shutdown by passing a 45-day stopgap funding measure – H.R. 5860 – which provided fiscal year appropriations to federal agencies through November 17th.

The agreement between the two chambers and the White House came just hours before the new fiscal year was set to begin on October 1st.

Not included in the measure was additional funding for Ukraine, a point of contention among many House Republicans and a handful of Senate Republicans who are advocating for increased U.S. border security while questioning the continued funding for the eastern European country.

A bipartisan group of Senators were pushing for an additional $6 billion in aid for Ukraine, but Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not take the measure up in the Republican majority House.

However, an additional $16 billion was included in the funding resolution aimed at providing U.S. disaster relief assistance, a request sought by President Joe Biden weeks ago as the nation struggles to keep up with FEMA needs in the wake of the Hawaii fires and severe weather impacts.

While Mississippi’s two U.S. Senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, both Republicans, were among the 88 Senators approving the eleventh-hour bill, the Magnolia State’s three Republican Congressmen voted against the measure in the House. Trent Kelly (MS-1), Michael Guest (MS-3) and Mike Ezell (MS-4) were among the 90 House Republicans who did not support the compromise resolution that passed their chamber with a majority of Democratic votes.

Congressman Bennie Thompson (MS-2), the state’s lone Democratic representative, was among the majority voting in favor of the bill.