But with an even bigger and trickier shutdown deadline just two weeks away on March 22, lawmakers are weighing their opinions on how to fund these agencies and what policies should be attached to the bill. It remains sharply divided.
Still, Congress ultimately extended the deadline in 2024 after extending it four times, citing disagreements within the fractious House Republican conference that led to the historic ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). We are on a realistic path to completing the spending process.
“Passage of these bills will provide much-needed momentum to complete the next spending bill by the March 22 deadline,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said Wednesday on the floor. Probably.'' “But as we have said repeatedly, we will need bipartisan cooperation to get the job done.”
Far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives have used the appropriations process to slash spending by banning funding for Planned Parenthood, reduce funding for the Department of Education, enact tough new immigration restrictions, and secure the White House. was seeking to restore some of its climate funding. .
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has recently stepped up to more directly defend the path he has charted to ensure a government shutdown is avoided, even though most Republicans This is because they are aware that they will be held responsible for this, and there will be a heavy political cost during the election. A year in which Republicans are fighting to maintain and expand their two-vote majority.
Over the past week, Prime Minister Johnson has warned that if Republicans do not acknowledge their ideological differences over government funding and limit their own hands, the “single and double wins” they won on the first round of funding bills could be a grand slam. I have encouraged the conference to accept what could have been. In negotiations with other Congressional leaders, all agreed on the funding levels that McCarthy and President Biden set last year.
“We want to reduce spending. We want to limit the size and scope of the federal government. The current reality is that the government is divided…so what can be accomplished? We need to be realistic about what we can do,” Johnson said on Wednesday.
Biden will confront his relative progress and emerging impasse in his State of the Union address Thursday, while also making his most direct appeal to voters yet for a second term.
But some of the discussions about his priorities and Congressional spending are intertwined with U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel and immigration issues at the Mexican border. Biden and Democrats are keen to send more weapons and resources to Ukraine as the Russian invaders seek to invade the country. The president also wants to send money to Israel for its war against Hamas, but this has run into opposition from Democrats concerned about the rising civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Johnson and his party say they want to pass border and immigration laws before sending aid to allies, but lawmakers say some of these policy drives are clouding the government funding landscape. . Members of the staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus are seeking Congressional support for institutions they believe will help support the influx of migrants at the Mexican border, easier access to abortion, and support for LGBTQ, diversity, equity, and inclusion measures. has repeatedly argued that it should not be funded.
“Republicans will talk about how they won big victories and how they served the American people. The truth is, we haven't done any of that. '' said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on the House floor. “If members of the committee can come down and explain it to the American people in terms that they can understand, I would like them to explain it to us — what exactly a cut looks like.”
The bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, would cover about 30% of the federal government, including the departments of Justice, Transportation, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and Food. is providing funding. The Medicines Administration and the government's key research functions will be provided for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
It is the product of two bipartisan compromises in Washington that have faced considerable scrutiny and threats from far-right lawmakers.
Last spring, Biden and McCarthy agreed to suspend the nation's debt ceiling in exchange for limiting federal spending to $1.59 trillion by 2024. House Republicans were outraged by the deal, and disagreements over spending ultimately led to the insurgents ousting Mr. McCarthy as speaker. He directed the House Appropriations Committee to take up his request to cut spending by an additional $1 billion.
In a move that infuriated House conservatives, Mr. McCarthy also announced a $1.2 billion side agreement to be honored by Democratic leaders, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the appropriations chairmen of both chambers. was tied with Mr. Biden.
Mr. McCarthy's successor, Mr. Johnson, stuck to that agreement, re-agreing with Mr. Schumer in January a maximum of $1.7 trillion in annual discretionary spending. Wednesday's bill will cover part of that amount. Expensive programs such as Social Security and Medicare are not subject to annual approval by Congress, so they are not included in this total.
Some Republicans were unhappy with the $1.7 trillion total and wanted policy provisions included in the bill as consolation for not cutting spending further. These “riders” (so called because the policies are “aligned” with often unrelated laws) include restricting the items some food stamp recipients can purchase, restricting the availability of abortion pills, and restricting the availability of abortion pills. It included a crackdown and a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes. .
Most of these provisions did not make it into the final bill, angering conservatives. If House Republicans had doused the bill with culture war poison, as they did with last year's spending bill, it would have killed any chance of passage. Vulnerable House Republicans would have avoided some controversial policies, and Democrats in both chambers would have opposed them.
Lacking Republican unity and a two-vote majority to pass the bill, Mr. Johnson and his predecessor, Mr. McCarthy, suspended House rules to avoid a procedural hold on the bill by the Freedom Caucus. They had to rely on Democrats to ensure passage. Supported by two-thirds of the House of Representatives.
“This is a long, methodical process. It's too early,” Johnson said. “But we're very happy now that we're finally at a point where we can go beyond that.”