This month, Congress faces a deadline to avoid a government shutdown, and lawmakers from both parties have made clear that some sort of interim solution will be needed to keep things running.
Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to pass legislation to prevent a funding shortfall. And while November’s elections could make the likelihood of a shutdown less likely, politicians have their hands full amid deep divisions over spending.
Here are some things that could complicate these efforts.
Duration of CR
There is bipartisan support for a continuation resolution that would keep the government funded at current levels beyond the November election. Depending on the outcome, both sides could then gain significant leverage in the funding talks.
But some Republicans in the House and Senate are confident that former President Trump can return to the Oval Office, so they are pushing for a stopgap bill that could push the next funding deadline back to next year.
Proponents of the idea argue that the bill could lend a hand prevent Congress from being overwhelmed with a year-end budget package that would combine all 12 of the administration’s spending bills for the coming fiscal year, while potentially giving Trump more influence over legislation if he moves into the White House in the fall.
Democrats are vigorously resisting the idea, and some Republicans, particularly those tasked with drafting annual spending legislation, are also reluctant to postpone the work until next year.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) has repeatedly urged lawmakers to complete their funding work this year.
“I think they believe – and I agree – that we’re going to win the presidential election, and they believe that will give them more leverage,” Cole said earlier this year, but he reiterated that similar strategies have not always worked in the past.
Bill to provide proof of citizenship when voting
There is growing pressure from conservatives in the House of Representatives, Attach bill for stricter requirements for proof of citizenship to agree on the expected CR.
But a funding bill that would include this measure would almost certainly fail to pass the Democratic-dominated Senate, which would impose additional hurdles on the process within a tight time frame.
Supporters of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act say the law would ensure that only citizens can vote in federal elections. It would do this by, among other things, requiring states to obtain proof of citizenship for voter registration and removing noncitizens from the voter rolls.
Democrats have vehemently opposed the bill, which the Biden administration threatened to veto when it was considered in the House last month, pointing out that it is already a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. The White House also argued that the bill would make it harder for eligible voters to register and “increase the risk of eligible voters being purged from the voter rolls.”
Some conservatives also view the strategy as a means to gain more influence and push through other critical issues.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a recent press conference that discussions on the funding strategy are still ongoing.
When asked if he thought Johnson would attach the SAVE Act to a stopgap bill next month, Republican Rep. Andy Biggs (Arizona), who sponsored the voting bill in July, replied, “I think he might actually do it.”
“The question really would be whether it gets out of the House,” he added. “And I don’t know.”
Spending level
Hardline Conservatives remain enraged at the spending levels set by two major spending packages passed with cross-party support earlier this year, and some are not keen on the prospect of a CR that would keep funding frozen.
(*4*) says Biggs. said“Why don’t we just make the budget laws simple? … The whole thing is so confusing, chaotic and crazy.”
The House has passed partisan versions of about half of the 12 regular funding bills, but intraparty squabbles have prevented passage of other bills in the House. The Senate, meanwhile, has moved most of its spending bills through committee but has not yet passed any of them on the floor — and is unlikely to take up the House’s version of any of the measures.
VA budget deficit
Congress failed to pass legislation to fix the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) roughly $3 billion budget deficit before he left last month, but officials warned that benefits for millions of veterans were at risk in the coming weeks.
The agency cited the PACT Act, a landmark law passed in 2022 with bipartisan support, as the main cause of the budget deficit, citing an escalate in VA health care enrollment as well as appointments and application benefits.
The VA said it is asking Congress to provide about $3 billion in “mandatory benefit funds” for fiscal year 2024 and about $12 billion in fiscal year 2025 “for medical care.”
Senators from both parties had hoped to pass a standalone bill to close the immediate, smaller funding gap by September 20, just over a week before federal funding runs out.
Senator John Boozman (Arkansas), the ranking Republican on the subcommittee that drafts annual funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, was pressed before the recess to exploit the expected interim funding bill as a vehicle for legislation to eliminate the nearly $3 billion deficit.
“I think the only problem with this is that nobody really knows when that’s going to happen, but we want to make sure we’re taking care of the veterans and they’re not missing out on a check that many of them are completely dependent on,” Boozman said, although he noted there’s a “possibility” the emergency funds could be contingent on a CR.
