With about 12 days to go before the first half of the partial government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced a deal to keep the lights on.
Johnson (R-La.) announced approval for a top-line discretionary budget of “$1.59 trillion,” hovering around the figure set in last year’s debt ceiling deal — largely in line with Democratic demands.
Specifically, the top-line figures for appropriations involve $888 billion for defense and $704 billion in non-defense discretionary spending, according to Johnson.
“Today’s agreement achieves major modifications 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 respected colleagues.
Notably, the top deal Johnson announced also appears to include an additional $69 billion in other side deals. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discretionary non-defensive in the alliance at about $773 billion.
Congress has until January 19 to debate the first stage of the appropriations bill, then until February 2 for the second stage to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The deal announced by Speaker Johnson closely mirrors the top figure in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 — the debt limit compromise deal. AP
Conservative hardliners have sought a top-line appropriations figure closer to the $1.47 trillion mark, which has stalled the appropriations process for months.
But in November of last year, the leadership of the Freedom Caucus appeared to relent and indicated that the $1.59 trillion could be enough given the Democrats’ intransigence on the matter.
Critics in the House have vilified former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for his deal to avoid default in late May of last year that featured a $1.59 trillion top line.
At the time, Congress was grappling with government borrowing authority over the debt ceiling. Right now, Congress is struggling with government funding through the appropriations process.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has carefully navigated the GOP’s internal turmoil in the House of Representatives. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
After the debt limit deal, Republican hardliners spent months pushing for deeper cuts, stalling the appropriations process.
In late September as the fiscal year drew to a close and Congress had to fund the government or risk a shutdown, McCarthy provided a temporary spending cap.
That prompted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and seven other Republicans to unite with a strong Democratic bloc to oust him, leaving the lower house paralyzed for nearly a month.
Johnson, who was unanimously appointed to replace McCarthy last year, acknowledged that the new deal “won’t please everyone” and “doesn’t cut spending as much as we want.”
“This agreement gives us a path to: 1) move the process forward; 2) re-prioritizing top-line funding toward conservative objectives, instead of last year’s Schumer-Pelosi omnibus; and 3) fight for important policy riders,” he stressed, referring to future clashes with Democrats.
Chuck Schumer pushed hard last month to sign a border deal before the upper house adjourned for the winter break. AP
The democratic leadership praised the agreement.
“We have made it clear to Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills coming before Congress,” Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement.
“By securing $772.7 billion in non-defense discretionary funding, we can protect key domestic priorities like veterans benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the brutal cuts sought by right-wing extremists.”
With the top line level now apparently gone, Congress will need to pass 12 appropriations bills to avoid a shutdown. So far, no appropriations bill has been passed by either house.
Both the House and Senate are set to reconvene this week after lawmakers adjourned last month for the winter break.
President Biden signaled that he is on board with the new spending deal. ZUMAPRESS.com
The White House also praised the development.
“[It] moves us one step closer to preventing 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 fundamental responsibility to fund critical domestic and national security priorities, including my additional requests.”
The additional request to which Biden referred also appears to have overcome a major hurdle.
Last October, he asked Congress to greenlight an additional $106 billion package including aid to war-torn Ukraine, Israel, the southern border and more.
About 60 House Republicans toured the US-Mexico border last week, attacking the Biden administration’s track record on the issue. AP
The deal’s progress has been decided by major differences over border security provisions, which have been subject to negotiations by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn. )
Lankford, who has long fretted about the prospect of getting a deal quickly, expressed confidence that the text for a border deal could come this week.
“Text hopefully this week, to be able to get it out. Everyone will have time to read and experience it. Nobody is going to get stuck in this process,” Lankford told “Fox News Sunday.”
“This agreement needs to work. Everyone expects this to really work.”
The Border Patrol has faced record-breaking encounters in the south. AP
To clear the Senate, the compromise would have to muster 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Then it needs to get approval from the House.
There are still lingering questions about how the deal will address key policy flashpoints such as handling asylum seekers and immigration parole policy.
Both the border funding deal and the top line pose another major test for Johnson’s nascent speaker over the shrinking GOP majority in the House.
The already slim Republican majority is expected to drop to 219 to the Democrats’ 213 later this month when Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) is leaving to take the reins as president of Youngstown State University.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
