Last autumn, after the government came close to shutdown, Johnson defied conservative demands from Freedom Caucus members and other segments of his GOP conference for budget cuts to be included in his “laddered CR,” a measure to fund certain parts of government until January while Senate appropriators work on full-year funding bills.
House Passes Bill to Avert Government Shutdown
On Saturday night, Congress averted a government shutdown when House lawmakers passed a stopgap funding bill that will soon be considered by Senate. This measure extends funding rates set in an earlier short-term bill until January 19; another batch covers military construction, veterans programs and transportation bills until Feb 2; finally there will also be funds available for other spending bills until then.
The measure should sail quickly through the Senate, with support from both Democrats and Republicans alike expected. Even so, far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus opposed it as it would delay bipartisan negotiations for full year funding bills for next fiscal year.
It’s part of an attempt to prevent a shutdown that would impact thousands of federal workers, including National Guard and Reserve members and their families, in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Furthermore, it would break with tradition of funding all government spending through one large end-of-year omnibus bill; an approach conservatives abhor. Finally, this measure poses a challenging test for newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, who pledged last autumn not to support another stopgap funding bill following an intense fight that led to Kevin McCarthy being ousted from his post as House speakership.
Senate Passes Bill to Avert Government Shutdown
Senate members overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday a short-term funding measure designed to prevent government shutdown and set two further deadlines for developing a full budget, USA Today reported. The continuing resolution (CR) will keep government open through Jan 19 for military construction funding as well as transportation, housing energy and agriculture funding; eight other appropriations such as defense will expire Feb 2 under this two-step plan, according to USA Today.
This bill does not contain the deep budget cuts desired by conservatives or provide funding to Israel or Ukraine as proposed. As soon as word was out about this plan, House Freedom Caucus members quickly condemned it; Johnson supported former Speaker Kevin McCarthy whom they have pledged their support until they get more changes on immigration and border policy issues.
The move gives Congress some much-needed breathing room and pushes back budget talks until after the holidays, though Senate’s Democratic majority must work with a divided Republican caucus on an Israel/Ukraine national security funding package; and House Freedom Caucus may threaten a shutdown should legislation not contain additional amendments – just one more hurdle along its long journey of funding deadlines that have come and gone over time.
President Signs Bill to Avert Government Shutdown
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday touted a proposed topline funding bill as an improvement over previous topline funding agreements containing “poison pills” and harmful cuts to essential programmes. Johnson, whose leadership has recently been challenged by far-right House Republicans, said this plan would keep government running while full-year package negotiations take place and acknowledged it may disappoint hard-line conservatives seeking additional cuts or controversial provisions.
This stopgap measure extends funding until Jan. 19 for some federal agencies whose funds were set to expire and Feb. 2 for others whose funding is scheduled to run out. Furthermore, this extends an October deadline for passing full-year appropriations bills, giving Johnson’s House Republican majority more time to pass legislation through Congress.
House Democrats and the White House, however, have opposed Johnson’s two-tiered CR. Instead they support an extension of existing funding without budget gimmicks; one of her harshest critics, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said on Fox News on Tuesday that members of the House Freedom Caucus may use similar strategies used against former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to remove her as speaker if Johnson’s bill comes to the floor.
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