Congress moves to avoid government shutdown before Election Day – The Denver Post

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is expected to quickly approve a stopgap spending bill Wednesday that would fund federal agencies when the new fiscal year begins next Tuesday, avoiding a potential conflict over a government shutdown in the weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

The stopgap measure generally funds agencies at current levels through Dec. 20, but an additional $231 million was added to bolster the Secret Service after two assassination attempts on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Money was also added to help with the presidential transition, among other things.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, described the bill as taking “only necessary action,” a statement aimed at members of his own conference concerned about the level of spending.

Still, that’s unacceptable to some Republicans, forcing House GOP leaders to rely on Democratic votes to advance the bill in a process that requires at least two-thirds support from voting members. Johnson has said the only alternative to the pending resolution at this stage would be a government shutdown.

“It would be politically dishonest to shut down the government,” Johnson said. “I think everyone understands that.”

If the House passes the stopgap funding as expected, it will move on to the Senate for final approval. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said late Tuesday that he had reached an agreement that would allow for swift passage.

“This is the way to do things,” Schumer said. “No balancing act, no delay.”

Lawmakers in both chambers are eager to return to their states and districts to campaign on a temporary financial measure, but they face more arduous fiscal negotiations later this year.

That’s because the bill essentially delays a final decision on spending levels for the year for three months. Under the terms of a previous deal designed to avoid a federal default and allow the government to continue paying its bills, spending on defense and nondefense programs would increase by 1% next year.

The Senate has charted a course to exceed that level, while House Republicans have voted for drastic cuts to a range of nondefense programs and attached policy mandates to spending bills that Democrats strongly oppose. So a final deal will be difficult to achieve.

In the meantime, the temporary bill will mostly keep government funding at current levels, with a few exceptions, such as a cash injection for the Secret Service.

The $231 million for the Secret Service comes with some restrictions. It depends on whether the agency complies with congressional oversight. The bill also allows the Secret Service to spend the funds more quickly if needed.

“Everybody understands this is incredibly important right now,” Johnson said of the Secret Service money.

Trump thanked lawmakers for the additional funding for the Secret Service at a campaign event on Wednesday. He had previously urged Republicans not to move forward on a spending bill without including a requirement that people show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. That legislation failed in the House last week.

In a recent letter, the Secret Service told lawmakers that a funding shortfall was not a factor in Trump’s security lapses when a gunman climbed onto an unsecured roof during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire. But acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. made clear that the agency has “urgent needs” and that he is talking to Congress.

The ongoing resolution is needed because Congress is far from completing its work on the dozen or so annual appropriations bills that fund much of the federal government. The House has passed five of the 12 bills, mostly along party lines. The Senate has passed zero.

Republicans blame Senate Democrats for the current stalemate for failing to bring more than a dozen spending bills to a Senate floor vote, where they could be reconciled with House bills during negotiations. Democrats counter that House Republicans are acting in bad faith by slowing down the process, undermining an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with the White House on spending limits for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Appropriations Committee, said her party would not accept anything less than the 1% increase outlined in the deal. In addition, if Republicans want more for defense, there needs to be “dollar-for-dollar parity on nondefense spending,” she said.

“We know where we need to end up. And I hope this bill provides the bipartisan momentum needed to get there,” DeLauro said.

The White House is urging both chambers to pass the stopgap bill, warning that it does not include enough money to help communities cope with the effects of natural disasters and does not include enough funding for health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Still, the administration has called for the legislation to be passed quickly to “avoid a costly, unnecessary government shutdown” and provide enough time to pass spending measures for the full year.

Johnson has warned that he will not support a sweeping, blanket government funding bill, known as an omnibus, when the new extension expires in December, so another stopgap measure may be needed that would allow the new president and Congress to have the final say on spending levels for fiscal 2025.

“I have no intention of going back to that horrible tradition,” Johnson said.

Originally published: September 24, 2024 at 10:21 PM