Washington Congress faces a crucial deadline of December 20 to prevent a government shutdown as it reconvenes this week for a final round of action before the session ends.
As they run out of time to reach a complete financing agreement this year, Democrats and Republicans seem resigned to supporting a continuing resolution, or CR, that would temporarily finance the government into early 2025, most likely March. Even the overall amount of spending for the upcoming fiscal year, much alone how the funds will be distributed among the many branches of government, is a point of contention between the two parties.
“We need to keep divisive and unnecessary provisions out of any government funding extension, or else it will get harder to pass a CR in time,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hinted Monday at the likelihood of a short-term resolution.
That is a double-edged sword for Republicans.
With President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House and the GOP regaining control of the Senate and a slim House majority, Republicans would have more power to influence federal spending in the coming year if they punted the deadline.
The main drawback is that it would set a crucial deadline early in the Trump administration, possibly delaying the Senate’s confirmation of his nominees and the major party-line bill that Republicans are considering to extend his tax cuts and further his immigration and border security agenda.
Regarding the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., stated, “We have to do a lot of things at the same time.” We’re going to chew gum and take a stroll.
Early in the Trump administration, several Republicans would have liked not to be burdened by a funding deadline.
There are many things that I would rather have. However, in all likelihood, we will not create a budget before Christmas. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News that it would not occur. We should likely have a CR through the middle of March, in my opinion. That CR should be fairly slender, in my opinion.
Kennedy went on to say that Congress is probably going to add “$30 [billion] to $40 billion of disaster relief” to the CR, which would include money for states that were affected by this year’s disasters. “It won t be enough, but it ll be enough to get a start,” he stated.
Because the legislation must pass the Senate with 60 votes, funding the government is typically a convoluted procedure that needs bipartisan backing. Since Democrats currently command the majority and Republicans will only have 53 senators starting next year—far less than the 60 required to control the process themselves—they have considerable influence over the legislation regardless of the deadline.
Another factor is that many House Republicans would not support enacting another huge Christmastime spending bill, which may jeopardize House Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to be re-elected on January 3—especially as the already precarious GOP majority continues to dwindle.
Though in various ways, another protracted speaker dispute may potentially make Trump’s administration more difficult.
The length of a CR hasn’t been decided yet, according to Johnson’s office, which declined to comment.
There is not much time, according to Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, which drafts financing legislation.
The true discussion will begin once they make a decision over whether they will attempt to complete any of these appropriation measures before March or whether they will conduct a CR for all of them. “We can’t finish them all,” he stated. “If we were given a top-line figure, we could most likely negotiate. We would need to acquire that number fairly quickly, but we could probably negotiate a few of the bills—perhaps seven or eight—and have them finished by the 20th.
Therefore, I firmly believe that we will conduct a CR for all of us till the end of March,” he stated.
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