CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Senate Republican majority leadership are pushing for their Democratic colleagues to support a clean short-term bill to keep the government funded past an end-of-September deadline.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-210 Wednesday to advance a rule for a short-term continuing resolution – the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act – to keep the federal government funded through Black Friday, Nov. 21. Both U.S. Reps. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., and Riley Moore, R-W.Va., voted for the resolution.

The bill includes no new funding requests or budget cuts, making it a clean continuing resolution. The short-term measure is meant to keep the federal government funded at current levels through the start of the new federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, as lawmakers continue work on larger appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026. The continuing resolution is now in the hands of the Senate.

“What we have is a CR … that will go until Nov. 21, seven weeks,” said Capito, R-W.Va., on a media call from the U.S. Capitol Building Thursday afternoon. “It’s not loaded up with any Christmas trees. It doesn’t have any extra bells and whistles on it. It quite simply continues funding for seven weeks so that we can then still work on our appropriation bills.”

The Senate has worked on long-term government funding packages. To date, Senate committees have recommended eight funding bills for passage out of 12, with three funding bills passed by the Senate. The most recent funding package, passed by the Senate in August before summer recess, included the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture. The package also included funding for the Food and Drug Administration, as well as for military construction projects.

Capito – who chairs the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee – shepherded the passage by her subcommittee of the Labor-HHS budget at $197 billion. Capito praised Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for the progress the Senate has made toward passing appropriation bills.

“Hopefully, we can get more than just the three passed over that we sent over (to the House),” she said.

But the Senate Democratic minority could be a hindrance to getting the continuing resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is threatening to hold the resolution up unless it includes an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire by the end of the calendar year.

“We just put out our budget proposal,” Schumer said to reporters in a video posted to his X account. “The contrast between the Democratic budget proposal and the Republican proposal is glaring. Republicans want the same old status quo, rising costs and declining health care. Democrats want to meet people’s needs by improving healthcare and lowering costs in health care and many other places.”

“Schumer and the Democrats look like they’re going to shut the government down,” Capito said. “When President (Joe) Biden was in charge, they voted more than a few times for continuing resolutions, which I was always very helpful with, because I cannot stomach a government shutdown. This is the wrong-headed, wrong way to go.”

Capito said there was no need to tie Affordable Care Act subsidy renewal to the short-term continuing resolution yet, with discussions ongoing with the White House regarding health care costs.

“The reason we’re not going to put it on a seven-week continuing resolution is because it’s closer to $400 billion and I think we need to make sure that we’re working with the White House,” Capito said. “We’re making sure that we do it the right way, that we keep the coverage for those who need it the most, and that any kind of waste or fraud in these programs are eliminated at the same time. I think we need to take our time with it.”