WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a provisional spending bill that would keep the federal government running until Dec. 20. However, the divided Congress still faces many negotiations if lawmakers want to pass the 12 budget bills for the entire year before the fresh deadline.
The short-term funding bill, sometimes called a “continuing resolution,” is intended to avoid a partial government shutdown at the start of the fresh fiscal year on October 1.
The CR is intended to give lawmakers more time to reach agreement on budget legislation, but Congress regularly uses it as a safety net to delay or avoid decisions about which departments should receive more money and whether to change policies regarding the operate of federal taxpayer money.
The debate in the House of Representatives on CR was largely bipartisan, with Democrats and Republicans expressing their support before the vote by a vote of 341 to 82.
The Senate is scheduled to vote later Wednesday evening to forward the bill to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.
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There are many problems ahead of us
The interim bill was expected to be the last major bill Congress would consider before Election Day, when the outgoing legislators’ session is scheduled to begin on November 12.
“In just a few days, fiscal year 2024 appropriations will run out, and it is Congress’s responsibility to ensure the government stays open and serving the American people,” House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said during the floor debate. “We are here to prevent harmful disruptions to our national security and vital programs our constituents depend on.”
Cole expressed hope that Congress could pass the 12 full-year bills this year.
“The next president and the next Congress should not be forced to do the work of this administration and this Congress,” Cole said. “They will have enough problems … we should not be confronting them with a possible government shutdown on top of that.”
Connecticut House Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the Budget Committee, said lawmakers must begin conference calls in the coming days to reach bipartisan agreement on full-year budget proposals.
“No matter who wins in November, we owe it to the next Congress and the next president not to burden them with yesterday’s problems,” DeLauro said.
Bill for non-citizen voting rights dropped
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy spoke out against the interim budget authorization bill, expressing frustration that lawmakers once again relied on interim budget authorization instead of meeting the Oct. 1 deadline to pass full-year budget legislation.
“We should not postpone this until December 20, just five days before Christmas, as this city always does,” he said.
Roy also criticized Republican leadership in the House of Representatives for failing to stick to a six-month interim budget that included requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Group leader brought this bill to a vote last weekbut did not receive the votes needed to send it to the Senate. Voting by noncitizens in federal elections is already illegal.
Secret Service Expenses
The 49-page continuing resolution expands the funding levels and policies that Congress approved earlier this year in its last budget process.
Lawmakers have included a provision that allows the Secret Service to spend money more quickly than would otherwise have been allowed “for protective operations, including for activities related to national special security events and the 2024 presidential election campaign,” according to a Summary the invoice.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received a similar ruling, allowing it to spend more money from its disaster relief fund than it would otherwise have been allowed. The Forest Service’s wildfire response
The Administrative Account was also granted a faster spending rate.
The preliminary budget proposal extended authorizations for the National Flood Insurance Program as well as several other federal programs that would have expired at the end of September.
Elections in November
Whether Congress reaches an agreement with the Biden administration later this year on the government’s 12 year-round funding bills will likely depend on the outcome of the November election.
If voters opt for divided government for another two years, politicians will likely have an incentive to work out bipartisan, bicameral agreements during the five-week congressional session in November and December.
If Republicans or Democrats secure unified control of the House, Senate and White House, it could lead to another stopgap spending bill that delays decisions until after the next Congress and president are sworn in in January.
A fresh president, a fresh budget question
Regardless of when Congress completes its work on the 12 full-year funding bills, the next president will likely send his first budget request to lawmakers sometime next spring, which would start the annual process over again.
The President was supposed to present his budget proposal in early February, but delays are common in the first year of a fresh administration.
The House and Senate Budget Committees will then begin holding hearings with Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to question them on their individual requests and assess whether lawmakers will boost spending.
The budget committees of the individual chambers are expected to publish their respective draft budget lists for the entire financial year next summer, possibly followed by a debate in the plenary.
This year, the House Budget Committee referred all of its dozens of bills to the full House after party-line votes in which Democrats objected to both the level of spending and the policy language.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed five of these bills in the plenary session.
Senate Appropriations Committee members passed 11 of their bills in committee by largely bipartisan margins, with the exception of the Homeland Security measure. None of the bills were sent to debate on amendments and a final vote.
This is not uncommon in the Senate, where all of the floor time is often devoted to confirming judicial nominees, and passing a single spending bill can take weeks.
The House of Representatives, on the other hand, can pass bills within hours or days if leadership has secured the necessary votes.
