Table Of Content
- Appropriations legislation
- House and Senate leaders reach deal on 6 spending bills in push to avoid partial shutdown
- AP AUDIO: Biden and congressional leaders announce a deal on government funding as a partial shutdown looms.
- Support
- Leaders in Congress reach agreement on spending levels in key step to avoiding shutdown
- Budget legislation
To win the Republican votes needed for the measure to pass the Senate, Democrats agreed to a higher overall increase for military and defense programs compared with the health care, education and veterans affairs policies they champion. WASHINGTON — The Senate approved a $1.7 trillion government funding bill on Thursday, sending the legislation to the House, where it is expected to pass in time to beat a Friday night deadline to avert a partial federal government shutdown. Hard-right Republican lawmakers have voiced frustration with the short-term funding measures, but ongoing disagreements over some proposals in the appropriations bills have complicated talks over the full-year bills.
Appropriations legislation
Under current law, the VA must send a beneficiary’s name to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System whenever a fiduciary is appointed to help manage someone’s benefits. This year’s spending package prohibits the VA from transmitting that information unless a relevant judicial authority rules that the beneficiary is a danger to himself or herself, or others. “House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to President Biden’s agenda,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. "After preparing final text, this package of six full year Appropriations bills will be voted on and enacted prior to March 8," they wrote.
Biden and House Republicans reach funding deal as shutdown looms - The Guardian US
Biden and House Republicans reach funding deal as shutdown looms.
Posted: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
House and Senate leaders reach deal on 6 spending bills in push to avoid partial shutdown
"America faces serious national security challenges, and Congress must act quickly to deliver the full-year resources this moment requires," he said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated the deal for securing money for veterans and guaranteeing further cuts to the IRS and COVID relief funds. Then $75 per month.Complete digital access to quality FT journalism on any device.
AP AUDIO: Biden and congressional leaders announce a deal on government funding as a partial shutdown looms.
Lawmakers needed an agreement on overall spending levels so that appropriators could write the bills that set line-by-line funding for agencies. House and Senate leaders have announced a spending deal for government funding in 2024—and the IRS will be impacted. It's the latest in the ongoing battle to keep the federal government's lights on. The 4,155-page bill will provide $772.5 billion for nondefense discretionary programs, and $858 billion in defense funding, according to a summary released earlier this week by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy, a member of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation, spoke to the Deseret News on Thursday about the importance of deciding on a topline spending number. She said she is grateful Johnson prioritized budget talks over the December recess so Congress has time to hammer out a final deal in coming days. The House speaker said Congress “must move quickly” to finish the appropriations process, which requires the support of both Republicans and Democrats, but hardline conservatives are pushing back as the two funding deadlines — Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 — to avoid a shutdown are fast approaching. The speaker said the agreement slashes the Senate’s proposed appropriations by $30 billion, noting that the numbers fall in line with the spending caps set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, negotiated by President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., when suspending the debt ceiling.
Leaders in Congress reach agreement on spending levels in key step to avoiding shutdown
Johnson would then likely have to bring the bill up through a streamlined process requiring two-thirds support to pass. In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday the agreement would secure $16 billion in additional spending cuts from the previous agreement brokered by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and is about $30 billion less than what the Senate was considering. If those numbers sound familiar, they are similar to the amounts approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in the debt ceiling agreement. “Throughout the negotiations, Democrats fought hard to protect against cuts to housing and nutrition programs, and keep out harmful provisions that would further restrict access to women’s health, or roll back the progress we’ve made to fight climate change,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in support of the legislation. Overall, this year’s spending bills would keep non-defense spending relatively flat with last year’s bill, despite the rise in inflation, and some $70 billion less than what President Joe Biden originally sought.
Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts, called it an “unequivocal win” if the legislation is ultimately passed. There’s no good reason for us to have one this week now that we’re getting very close to finishing the job,” Schumer said. House Republicans have been determined to end the practice of packaging all 12 annual spending bills into one massive bill called an omnibus. “We want to get it done before the government funding expires Friday,” Scalise said. The agreement speeds up the roughly $20 billion in cuts already agreed to for the Internal Revenue Service and rescinds about $6 billion in COVID relief money that had been approved but not yet spent, according to Johnson’s letter. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders.
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The figures represent about a 5% increase in nondefense spending, and an 8% hike for defense and Pentagon programs. With government funding partially expiring on Friday, House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement to prevent a shutdown. Congress will have to officially pass the deal, which already has some challenges. Specifically, conservatives in the Senate want to shore up immigration and border security demands—while conservatives in the House have tied funding decreases to requests for aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Congressional leaders struck an agreement to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown. The deal still needs to get through Congress, where it is likely to face opposition from conservatives.
After months of negotiations, House and Senate leaders reached an agreement Sunday on total spending levels to fund the government in 2024. Given that the measure is the last must-pass bill before the holidays and the end of the 117th Congress, lawmakers shoved dozens of separate funding and legislative priorities into the package. The compromise offered Democrats a final opportunity to set the federal budget while they still control both chambers of Congress. The bill, which funds the government through the end of September, substantially increases spending and provides $858 billion in military funding and more than $772 billion for domestic programs.
The agreement includes an increase in Pentagon spending to $886.3 billion and holds nondefense funding essentially flat at $772.7 billion, including $69 billion of added money agreed to through a handshake deal between Mr. McCarthy and the White House. That additional spending is offset by speeding up $10 billion in cuts to I.R.S. enforcement and clawing back $6 billion in unspent Covid dollars and other emergency funds. Officials said the agreement did not include an additional $14 billion sought by the Republican and Democratic appropriators in the Senate to beef up both domestic and military spending. Approval of the sprawling package came less than three days after it was unveiled, as lawmakers raced to avert a government shutdown and codify dozens of fiscal and legislative priorities.
Congress reaches a deal on how much to spend for 2024 as shutdown deadline nears - NBC News
Congress reaches a deal on how much to spend for 2024 as shutdown deadline nears.
Posted: Sun, 07 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
That translates to roughly $886 billion in defense spending (an approximately 3% increase) and $704 in non-defense spending (about 1% decrease), including a $69 billion side deal in adjustments that will go toward non-defense domestic spending. Biden, in a statement, said the deal "moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities." The agreement sets topline spending levels at $886 billion for defense spending for the current fiscal year and roughly $773 billion for non-defense spending. The defense figure reflects the deal reached last year by President Biden and former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Congressional leaders hope to complete votes on the package this week and continue negotiations on the remaining six annual spending bills to pass them before a March 22 deadline. The vote both avoids the prospect of government shutdowns through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and eliminates the threat of a year-long continuing resolution that federal agencies had feared.
The stopgap bill was part of a broader bipartisan agreement between all four leaders in the House and Senate. The deal also included an agreement on six of the twelve annual spending bills. The stopgap under consideration today give them until March 22 to finish work on the remaining six bills. Johnson said that while the “final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like,” they will help the government to continue functioning and prioritize “conservative objectives” as well as crucial policies included within the spending bills.
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