Speaker Johnson announces bipartisan deal on short-term spending bill
The leaders of Congress announced Sunday a bipartisan deal on a short term spending bill. It is expected to pass and be sent to the White House by this week, preventing a partial shutdown at the start of the new fiscal year in October.
The House will vote on a continuing resolution for three months early in the week. This will fund the federal government until December 20 at the same spending levels as the current fiscal budget. The bill excludes the controversial Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which doomed the predecessor. It also trims some of the extra spending included in the previous version.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (Louisiana Republican) wrote to Republicans in a letter that he is pushing for the latest effort to stop the Senate from blocking the House with an interim measure that could “be loaded with billions of new spending and unrelated provision.”
He wrote: “While it’s not the solution we would all prefer, this is the prudent course of action under the current circumstances.” As history and polling confirm, closing the government less than 40days before a crucial election would be a political malpractice.
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The continuing resolution “bare bones” includes a $231-million boost for the Secret Service. This comes after lawmakers called for more resources to be provided to police forces following a second foiled attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The money will only be released after the Department of Homeland Security has provided the Mission Assurance Report to the task force that is investigating the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump.
The funding comes with the condition that the DHS provides any materials requested by panelists for their investigation, and that Ronald Rowe, acting Secret Service director, responds to all oversight inquiries “in a timely manner.”
The stopgap kept the millions of dollars for the transition and inauguration of the president, as well as the security that goes with it, but took away nearly $2 billion from the construction for Virginia-class submarines.
The move comes after Republicans and Democrats torpedoed the speaker’s attempt to pass the SAVE Act, a temporary measure to cover the six-month gap. Johnson will face opposition from the House GOP and may have to rely upon Democrats to pass legislation.
Republicans were against the last attempt of the speaker for many reasons. Others voted against it because it was a message that had no meaning and would not result in any policy changes.
Rep. Tim Burchett (a Tennessee Republican) voted against the previous stopgap, and intends to vote against this latest one. Burchett predicted that even if some Republicans turn their backs on the newest continuing resolution bill, it would not be enough to stop the bill.
Burchett said to The Washington Times, “I believe they will buckle when faced with a government shut down.” “I think that it will probably pass.”
Uncertain is whether the lawmakers will reach a deal to extend the current fiscal budget year or to pass a massive omnibus bill at year’s end.
The usual approach of Congress is to pass a large end-of-year bill just before Christmas, to wrap up the budgetary fight for the year. But Mr. Johnson’s approach last year was to use multiple stopgap measures to pass incrementally smaller and bundled spending packages.
Unknown to the ongoing negotiations, a member of the House leadership staff familiar with the ongoing discussions on spending said that Republicans are still trying to determine the overall level of spending for fiscal year 2025 despite having agreed to a cap in the 2023 debt ceiling agreement.
The staff member explained, “So it’s the exact same dynamic which has just been delayed by a couple of extra months.” We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
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