Military construction funding would expire earlier than the rest of the Pentagon budget under legislation on track to become law in order to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week.
It’s unclear if the staggered deadlines would have any practical effect on military construction projects, which have garnered increasing attention in recent months as investigations uncover unlivable barracks conditions. Typically, military construction funding that has been previously approved by Congress is allowed to be spent for up to five years, though a government shutdown limits the circumstances in which the money can be spent.
But the novel approach to keeping the government open adds another wrinkle to what has already been a particularly bumpy process to fund the Pentagon and the rest of the government this year.
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The House on Tuesday afternoon overwhelmingly passed the stopgap spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, or CR. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has said his chamber will take it up before current government funding runs out Friday night, with a vote possible as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
In an effort to buy more time to negotiate 12 individual full-year spending bills and relieve the pressure to reach deals on all spending bills by one date, House Speaker Mike…
