With about 12 days left in the first half of a partial government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson has unveiled a deal to keep the lights on.
Johnson (R-La.) announced a deal for a “$1.59 trillion” discretionary budget, close to the figure set in the debt ceiling agreement last year, largely in line with the demands of the Democrats.
Specifically, the headline appropriations numbers involve $888 billion for defense and $704 billion in non-defense discretionary spending, according to Johnson.
“Today’s deal makes key amendments to the June framework that will secure more than $16 billion in additional spending cuts to offset discretionary spending levels,” Johnson wrote in a letter to his dear colleague.
Notably, the top-line deal Johnson announced also appears to include an additional $69 billion in other side deals. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discretionary linked non-defense in the pact at approximately 773 billion dollars.
Congress has until Jan. 19 to approve the first tranche of appropriations bills, and then until Feb. 2 for the second tranche, to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The agreement announced by President Johnson closely reflects the main figures of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023: the compromise agreement on the debt limit. AP
Hardline Conservatives had sought a top-line appropriations figure closer to the $1.47 trillion mark, stalling the appropriations process for months.
But in November of last year, Freedom Caucus leaders appeared to relent, indicating that $1.59 trillion might be enough given Democrats’ intransigence on the issue.
Critics in the House had ridiculed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for his deal to avoid a default in late May of last year that included a gross receipt of $1.59 trillion.
At the time, Congress was grappling with the government’s borrowing authority through the debt ceiling. Now, Congress is wrestling with government funding through the appropriations process.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has carefully navigated the internal GOP tumult in the House of Representatives. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
After the debt limit deal, hardline Republicans spent months pushing for deeper cuts, stalling the appropriations process.
In late September, when the fiscal year was about to close and Congress needed to fund the government or risk a shutdown, McCarthy provided a temporary spending patch.
That led firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and seven other Republicans to join with a solid bloc of Democrats to depose him, sending the House into paralysis for nearly a month.
Johnson, who was unanimously installed as McCarthy’s successor last year, admitted that the new deal “won’t satisfy everyone” and “doesn’t cut spending as much as many of us would like.”
“This agreement provides us with a path to: 1) move the process forward; 2) reprioritize funding within the top line toward conservative goals, rather than last year’s Schumer-Pelosi omnibus; and 3) fight for the important political riders,” he stressed, alluding to future confrontations with the Democrats.
Chuck Schumer had struggled last month to sign a border agreement before the Senate adjourned for the winter break. AP
The democratic leadership praised the agreement.
“We have made it clear to President Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including changes to the poison pill policy in any of the twelve appropriations bills before Congress,” Schumer and the House Minority Leader said. of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in a joint statement.
“By securing the $772.7 billion for non-defense discretionary funds, we can protect key domestic priorities, such as veterans benefits, health care and nutrition assistance, from the draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists.”
Now that revenue levels have apparently been resolved, Congress will need to pass 12 appropriations bills to avoid a shutdown. So far, neither chamber has passed an appropriations bill.
Both the House and Senate will reconvene this week after lawmakers adjourned last month for the winter break.
President Biden has signaled that he agrees with the new spending deal. ZUMAPRESS.com
The White House also praised the development.
“[It] “It brings us one step closer to avoiding an unnecessary government shutdown and protecting important national priorities,” President Biden said in a statement Sunday.
“Now, Congressional Republicans must do their job, stop threatening to shut down the government, and fulfill their basic responsibility to fund critical homeland and national security priorities, including my supplemental request.”
That supplemental request that Biden referenced appears to have cleared key hurdles as well.
Last October, he asked Congress for the green light for a sprawling $106 billion supplemental package that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel, the southern border and more war-torn countries.
About 60 House Republicans paid a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border last week, attacking the Biden administration’s record on the issue. AP
Progress on that deal had been hampered by wide differences over border security provisions, which have been the subject of negotiations between Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Chris Murphy (D -Conn.)
Lankford, who had long been pessimistic about the prospects of reaching an agreement quickly, expressed optimism that the text of the border agreement could arrive this week.
“Hopefully text this week so I can post it. Everyone will have time to read and review it. No one will be caught up in this process,” Lankford told “Fox News Sunday.”
“This agreement has to work. “Everyone is counting on this to really work.”
The Border Patrol has faced unprecedented encounters in the south. AP
To pass the Senate, the compromise will need to gather 60 votes to overcome the filibuster. It will then need House approval.
Questions remain over how that agreement addresses important policy flashpoints, such as the handling of asylum seekers and immigration parole policy.
Both the border and top-line funding deals pose another key test for Johnson’s nascent presidency over the narrowing Republican majority in the House.
Republicans’ already threadbare majority is expected to fall to 219 to Democrats’ 213 later this month, when Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) steps down as president of Youngstown State University.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn