Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
The Senate approved the slimmed-down continuing resolution early Saturday hours after it passed the House, resolving a stalemate that has tied the Capitol in knots for days.
The big picture: The 118-page measure, which passed on a 85-11 vote, prevented a disastrous shutdown — but it also jettisoned a variety of policy riders that were set to ride on the CR as the last major vehicle in this Congress.
- This version of the CR extends several health care programs, but includes no significant energy or tech policy measures.
The original CR would have:
- Tackled drug prices by changing how PBMs are paid.
- Cracked down on deepfakes and imposed measures to secure chip supply chains and counter China.
- Allowed year-round sales of high ethanol fuel.
- All of those provisions were scrapped when Elon Musk and President-elect Trump tanked the bill.
Yes, but: One health care provision that had been dropped from the original CR — which reauthorizes an NIH pediatric disease research initiative — passed the Senate by voice vote on its own shortly before the smaller CR was approved.
