Congressional leaders have agreed to a temporary government funding deal to avert a government shutdown and advance six annual spending bills.
The deal pushes deadlines on the Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science bills to March 8, Politico first reported citing a senior leadership aide. The rest of the appropriations bills will have a March 22 deadline.
Lawmakers have until Saturday to pass the government-funding deal to prevent a partial government shutdown from taking place ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) met with President Biden and other congressional leaders Tuesday to discuss the looming government shutdown and expressed optimism about finalizing an agreement.
“We are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government,” Johnson said in a statement Wednesday alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY.) and other congressional leaders. Congressional leadership confirmed the six appropriations bills agreed upon by lawmakers will be subject to votes before March 8. The spending bills will adhere to spending limits agreed to in January and included in the bipartisan debt ceiling deal passed last year.
“The remaining six appropriations bills — Defense, Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, Legislative Branch, and State and Foreign operations — will be finalized, voted on, and enacted prior to March 22,” they added.
Both the House and Senate appropriations committees will vote on a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded through those two deadlines until the appropriations bills are passed.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R., Va.) criticized the spending agreement and called for cutting non-defense spending by $73 billion, according to Politico. Speaker Johnson will likely require Democratic votes to get the stopgap measure passed, potentially leading to criticism from Republican hardliners.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky) announced Wednesday he is stepping down from his leadership position after reshaping the federal judiciary and steering the GOP through the Obama presidency. He noted the growing divides in his party and pushed Republicans to support the supplemental foreign-aid package with roughly $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel.
President Biden has come out in support of the supplemental and urged House Republicans to support the deal. Johnson and Biden discussed the supplemental Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether the bill will pass considering the strong opposition to Ukraine funding from Johnson’s right flank.