On September 23, 2024, US President Biden was in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, USA.
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
legislator Avoided a government shutdown The election is still 40 days away, but they will face another funding shortfall before the holidays and a new Congress and president take office.
Bipartisan negotiators have been trying to make progress on 12 bills needed to fund federal agencies in fiscal 2025.
However, there was little time to pass these bills during the lame duck session. House members and senators plan to be in Washington for just five weeks between Election Day and the end of the year, and the two chambers have yet to agree on any of more than a dozen measures, including appropriations bills.
A more likely scenario is that Democrats and Republicans will reach a year-end agreement on a massive, all-encompassing omnibus spending plan, or tackle the issue again with another continuing resolution (CR) that would extend funding through the new fiscal year. on a short-term basis of one year.
They need to reach a new funding deal before federal funds run out on Dec. 20.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, insisted this week that the days of Christmas Eve filled with bipartisan legislative priorities are over.
“We’re not going back to the Christmas tradition of omnibus spending, that’s a promise I made to everyone,” Johnson told reporters after the House passed a stopgap funding measure on Wednesday.
Asked whether he would commit to not putting buses in December, Johnson did not answer directly: “We’ve worked very hard to break that tradition… We’ll see what happens in December.”
Senior appropriators say that when Congress faces an end-of-year appropriations deadline, they will likely move toward a sweeping omnibus spending plan, as they have done before.
“I expect we will negotiate a comprehensive package,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., a member of the Appropriations Committee. She noted that Johnson had said there would be no more CR, and then a new CR passed on Wednesday.
“With all due respect, the speaker has no ability to draw a line in the sand when he can’t even control his own caucus. They constantly need Democrats to actually get anything done, and we’re governed by a minority,” she continued. “So I’m very confident that ultimately we will secure comprehensive financing.”
Far more House Democrats than Republicans voted for CR on Wednesday, which would prevent a government shutdown that begins next week, continuing a pattern of the minority passing must-pass legislation in the lower chamber of Congress this term.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., predicted the two parties could reach a deal in December and avert a government shutdown. But he said the election results will determine what ultimately happens.
Continued divided government could lead to tense negotiations, and if Republicans sweep the House, Senate and White House, for example, they could push for another short-term funding patch into 2025 if they take power.
