House Republicans plan to take a stopgap measure to extend spending for some government agencies until mid-January and others until early February, averting a partial government shutdown. A potential showdown with the Senate and White House is just days away from the deadline for the U.S. Senate.
under bill, Military Construction – VA, Agriculture, Energy – Water, Transportation – Funding for agencies covered by the HUD bill will be extended until January 19th, with a little more funding for agencies covered by eight other bills. It has been extended until February 19th. 2.
The current stopgap spending law expires on Friday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) proposed the plan to the Republican conference in a conference call Saturday afternoon. It does not include an additional funding package requested by President Joe Biden that includes $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine, the U.S.-Mexico border, and more.
“This bill will stop the absurd holiday omnibus tradition of massive, stacked spending bills introduced just before the Christmas holidays,” Johnson said in a statement. “By separating CR from discussions of additional funding, our conference will be in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight of aid to Ukraine, and meaningful policy changes on our southern border.”
Still, Mr. Johnson is likely to have a hard time passing his two-step continuing resolution in the House, not to mention the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is debating a simpler approach.
Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas), leader of the Freedom Caucus, has already voiced opposition to what he calls “clean” funding measures, calling his opposition “an overstatement.” “We cannot do that,” he said, calling for spending cuts and conservative policy proposals. It contains.
Russell Vought, the Trump administration’s former budget director, also posted a dissenting opinion on .
“Bad bill, bad strategy,” Vought wrote.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre voiced her own criticism, although without an explicit veto threat.
“This proposal is just a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns, a dead stop,” she said. “House Republicans need to stop wasting time in their own political divisions, do their jobs, and work in a bipartisan manner to prevent a government shutdown.”
If the two-phase plan cannot be approved by both houses of Congress, Johnson plans to propose a full-year CR with increases only for defense and national security priorities, according to a talking point circulated to members of the Republican conference.
Even if Johnson were able to pass the bill in the House of Commons, it was not immediately clear whether the Senate would immediately reject it.
Democrats in that chamber are especially wary of House Republicans’ efforts to include the defense spending bill in the first tranche, which would give Republicans the ability to negotiate other domestic spending bills like the Labor, Health, and Education bill. I thought it would give me an excuse not to complete it.
However, Prime Minister Johnson held off on including the Defense Bill, one of seven bills passed by the House of Commons so far.
A close aide to the Senate Democratic leadership said, “It’s good that the chairman didn’t include unnecessary cuts and maintained defense funding in the second group’s plan.”
time difference negotiation
House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) has pushed for a staggered deadline approach as a way to speed passage and negotiation of spending bills, but he previously He said the bill should be part of the first wave.
The CR version settled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson envisages faster negotiations on the four bills already passed by one or both houses.
The Military Construction-VA bill passed in both houses, and the Senate also passed the Agriculture and Transportation-HUD bill as part of a package with the Military Construction-VA bill.
The House has failed to pass either the farm bill or the transportation/HUD bill, but Congress could take another shot at the latter as soon as this week if Republican leaders strike a deal with party moderates to fund Amtrak. be.
The remaining dozen full-year bills will be a heavier challenge, but Johnson’s plan would leave little additional time to reach a bicameral agreement. The House of Representatives is scheduled to adjourn the week of January 22nd.
Republican leaders posted the document on Saturday, shortly after Prime Minister Boris Johnson began a 72-hour period for them to work out the details and for MPs to consider the proposal. Under rules adopted by the House in January, the House could vote on the bill as early as Tuesday night.
The bill would not reduce current spending rates for federal programs, as some hardline conservatives have demanded. In some cases, funding rates will increase during the period of the CR, such as the procurement of Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. For Secret Service activities related to the 2024 presidential election campaign. Helping borrowers manage their student loans as repayments resume after a pandemic-era pause.
The measure would also provide customary death benefits to the deceased lawmaker’s direct beneficiaries, in this case the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Mr. Feinstein’s daughter, Katherine Anne Feinstein, will receive $174,000.
Other extensions
The measure would extend most of the expired farm bills until September 30, 2024, retroactively to October 1, the start of the current fiscal year.
A series of expiring medical provisions would also be extended. The programs, which will be updated through Nov. 17 under the current stopgap law, include funding for community health centers and teaching hospitals, special diabetes programs, and Medicaid for so-called “disproportionate share hospitals” that provide medical services. It will be extended until January 19, including the postponement of reductions. Primarily low-income patients.
The measure would also extend Medicare’s physician payment extension program, which does not expire until the end of the year, until Jan. 19, and would also delay Medicare’s rescheduled lab test payments by another year.
The National Flood Insurance Program is extended until February 2nd.
The House Rules Committee added the draft emergency measure to its agenda for Monday’s session, along with the chamber’s labor, health and education bills.
senate plan
Although there are signs of Democratic support in the Senate, the bill could still face a tough fight in the Senate.
Earlier this week, Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the two-phase funding extension “the craziest, stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” On Saturday, Senate Transportation and HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) called the House plan “very complex.”
“We’re going to get through the short-term CR cleanly. The only question is, do we do it stupidly and catastrophically, or do we do it like adults?” Schatz said I wrote about it.
There is a possibility that both chambers will fight over whether to pass a continuing resolution.
Senate Democratic leaders had been considering a more traditional stopgap measure that would extend spending to all government agencies through Jan. 19.
Although not a final plan, the interim measures do not include aid to Israel or Ukraine. However, it would extend several expired authorizations, including the farm bill, flood insurance, health care package and Act 2. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It also could include funding to increase salaries for wildland firefighters.
The House’s two-part bill intentionally omits Section 2. According to a brief distributed to Republican lawmakers, the 702 extension is intended to provide “breathing room” for FISA overhaul measures currently being debated in both chambers of Congress.
A final decision has not yet been taken by Senate leaders, so the stopgap could take a different form, or the Senate could shelve its own version in favor of Johnson’s approach.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.N.Y.) introduced a motion Thursday to introduce a stopgap legislative measure. Voting is scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m.
David Lerman contributed to this report.
