Senate moves to advance bill to prevent government shutdown
CBSN
Washington — The Senate on Tuesday is set to begin the process to pass a stopgap measure to keep federal agencies operating ahead of Friday's deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, a bill that faces headwinds due to the inclusion of a proposal spearheaded by Sen. Joe Manchin.
Democratic appropriators on Monday night unveiled their 237-page bill, known as a continuing resolution, that would maintain current funding levels through Dec. 16 and includes a provision to hasten federal environmental reviews of energy and natural resource projects. Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, has pushed the plan and was promised a vote on the matter by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The legislation also provides $12.3 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine as the country continues to fight back against Russia's aggression, $1 billion to help families with heating and cooling costs amid rising consumer prices, $2.5 billion to help New Mexico recover from the largest wildfire to hit the state and $20 million in emergency funding for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Jackson, Mississippi.
Two more black-footed ferrets have been cloned from the genes used for the first clone of an endangered species in the U.S., bringing to three the number of slinky predators genetically identical to one of the last such animals found in the wild, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday.
There were 56 wild, endangered Puerto Rican parrots living around El Yunque National Forest before Hurricane Maria in 2017. After the storm, there was only one survivor. Wood thrushes, found across the eastern U.S.; 60% of them are gone. Baltimore orioles, also an eastern bird; two-fifths have been lost. Western meadowlarks, prevalent in the central and western U.S.; three-fourths have disappeared.