WASHINGTON – Congress appeared on Monday to be close to passing another short-term government funding bill this week, although some hurdles remain if lawmakers want to avoid a partial government shutdown when the current funding bill expires at the end of the week.
Top Democrats and President Joe Biden expressed some skepticism Monday about House Republicans’ so-called “phased” stopgap bill, but did not rule out voting for the measure, which would fund parts of the government through mid-January and other programs through early February . Approval would mean lawmakers could head into the Thanksgiving holiday without an immediate spending crisis looming over them.
The top three Democrats in the House of Representatives – Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Majority Leader Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar of California – wrote in a Dear Colleague letter that they were “carefully considering the proposal.”
“While House Republicans have abandoned a phased funding approach with multiple expiration dates, we remain concerned about the apportionment of the current resolution in January and February 2024,” they wrote. “Furthermore, the failure of House Republicans to address the national security and domestic supplemental funding priorities of the American people is also concerning.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, was cautious about the stopgap bill, often referred to as a “continuous resolution” (CR). It would prevent a partial shutdown when the current CR ends at midnight on Friday.
“Right now, I’m pleased that Speaker Johnson appears to be moving in our direction by pushing a CR that doesn’t include the highly partisan cuts that Democrats have warned about,” Schumer said, referring to the House speaker , Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana.
“The speaker’s proposal is far from perfect, but the most important thing is that it avoids drastic cuts while extending defense funding in the second tranche of the bills in February rather than the first in January,” he said.
Schumer noted that there could be obstacles to getting the short-term funding bill out of the House given growing opposition from far-right members of the House Republican Conference.
“The next few days will show everything in the House, and I hope the speaker does not give in to the loud voices of his hard right flank and add partisan cuts as the price of keeping government open,” Schumer said.
Biden on Monday did not commit to signing or vetoing the short-term spending bill, saying he wanted to see what happens.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, supported the House short-term spending bill, saying it would prevent a partial government shutdown just before Thanksgiving and allow Congress to continue working on must-pass legislation .
“There is still much work to be done — beyond the remaining full-year budget bills, glaring national security priorities continue to demand our attention, from Israel to Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific and, of course, our southern border,” McConnell said.
“House Republicans have crafted a responsible measure that will keep the lights on, avoid a damaging shortfall in federal funding, and provide the time and space to complete this important work,” McConnell added.
The spending bill has two fresh deadlines
Johnson, facing his first real test of governing, released the “phased” spending bill on Saturday that would fund part of the federal government until mid-January and the rest until early February.
That could, in theory, give Congress and the Biden administration more time to reach agreement on the dozens of full-year government funding bills that were scheduled to take effect by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
The 32-page Emergency Expenditure Bill would provide funding to departments and agencies within the Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD spending bills through Jan. 19.
The remaining federal programs funded in the other eight spending bills would be covered through Feb. 2. These include Commerce, Justice, Science, Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Homeland Security and Environment, Labor, HHS and Education, Legislative and State Bills for Foreign Operations.
The legislation would also extend many of the programs under the farm bill through September 30, 2024, giving lawmakers significantly more time to craft a bipartisan version of the legislation to be passed every five years.
The House could vote on the bill as early as Tuesday, showing whether Democrats are willing to support the legislation.
Several House Republicans have already announced their opposition to the bill, including Warren Davidson of Ohio, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Bob Good of Virginia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
“I will not support a status quo that fails to acknowledge fiscal irresponsibility and changes absolutely nothing while simultaneously encouraging a dodgy Senate and a fiscally illiterate president,” Perry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Davidson wrote on Disappointing is the most politeness I can muster. I will vote NO.”
“Hopefully the consensus will lead to a more sensible bill,” Davidson wrote.
