US Congress leaders reach $1 66tn spending deal ahead of feared shutdown

Table Of Content

• US Congress leaders reach $1.66tn spending deal ahead of feared shutdown
• AP AUDIO: Biden and congressional leaders announce a deal on government funding as a partial shutdown looms.
• Senate passes $1.7 trillion government funding bill, teeing up House vote
• House and Senate leaders reach deal on 6 spending bills in push to avoid partial shutdown
• Trump Slows Campaign Spending as He Tries to Close Cash Gap With Biden
• Money raised and spent by the campaigns (in millions)

Former President Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign committee ended March with $45 million on hand, federal filings showed Saturday, as he tries to close the fund-raising gap with President Biden. The Senate voted 68 to 29 to send the legislation to the House, which is set to take it up on Friday. The Senate vote came one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington and delivered a historic speech to a special joint meeting of Congress.

Congress releases six funding bills ahead of Friday shutdown deadline - The Washington Post

Congress releases six funding bills ahead of Friday shutdown deadline.

Posted: Sun, 03 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

US Congress leaders reach $1.66tn spending deal ahead of feared shutdown

Overall, the two spending packages provide about a 3% boost for defense, while keeping nondefense spending roughly flat with the year before. That’s in keeping with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills. The Senate voted 77 to 13 to approve a short-term spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown at the end of the day on Friday. The House passed the bill earlier in the day, giving Congress more time to finish work on long-term funding plans. “By securing the $772.7 billion for non-defense discretionary funding, we can protect key domestic priorities like veterans benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists,” he said in a joint statement with Jeffries.

AP AUDIO: Biden and congressional leaders announce a deal on government funding as a partial shutdown looms.

Then, the Senate would act on the bill, but it would require all senators to agree on speeding up the process to get to a final vote before the midnight Friday deadline. Such agreements generally require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to allow for votes on various amendments to the bill in return for an expedited final vote. Schumer said Tuesday he was hopeful of avoiding a lapse in government services. With the possible release of legislative text late Tuesday, the House’s 72-hour rule means that chamber would not take it up until late Friday, just hours before funding expires.

Senate passes $1.7 trillion government funding bill, teeing up House vote

The most conservative House Republicans opposed the earlier debt ceiling agreement and even brought House proceedings to a halt for a few days to show their displeasure. Many were surely wanting additional concessions, but Democrats have been insistent on abiding by debt ceiling spending caps, leaving Johnson in a difficult spot. In a letter to his Republican colleagues, Speaker Johnson advised that he had secured some concessions—including an additional $10 billion in cuts to the IRS mandatory funding for a total of $20 billion. Those cuts came from the nearly $80 billion promised to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act. Those amounts had already been agreed upon, but the cuts would come over two fiscal years. Johnson conceded the spending levels "will not satisfy everyone and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like," but he said the agreement puts Congress on a path to fight for more policy riders and spending cuts going forward.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and congressional leaders announced Tuesday that they have reached an agreement on this fiscal year’s final set of spending bills. Now, the question is how fast lawmakers can get the bills passed to avoid a partial government shutdown. In a joint statement, congressional leaders of both parties confirmed that the House and the Senate would vote this week on a short-term funding bill to allow lawmakers more time to finalize full-year appropriations bills. The leaders said that negotiators have already reached a deal on six full-year spending bills, and the remaining six bills are expected to be finalized before 22 March. Under the United States budget process established in 1921, the US government is funded by twelve appropriations bills that are formed as a response to the presidential budget request submitted to Congress in the first few months of the previous calendar year. The various legislators in the two chambers of Congress negotiate over the precise details of the various appropriations bills.

Budget legislation

In 2020, Trump repeatedly pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the electoral votes for President Joe Biden. Pence refused to do so during the Jan. 6, 2021, certification process, becoming a target of the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol that day. It also overhauls the federal Electoral Count Act, an 1887 law that former President Donald Trump and his allies sought to use to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost. In addition to the Ukraine assistance, the measure provides $40 billion in new funding for states and tribal reservations to help communities nationwide recover from natural disasters, such as wildfires and major storms. The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2024 runs from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Emerging from a meeting with GOP colleagues, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said he expected legislative text to be unveiled Wednesday and a vote in the House to occur by Friday.

Trump Slows Campaign Spending as He Tries to Close Cash Gap With Biden

Still, some of the more conservative members of the House GOP have been critical of the spending bills, and many voted against the short-term extension Congress passed last week that avoided a shutdown and allowed negotiations to continue. Earlier this year, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an agreement on the top-line spending levels for this year’s discretionary spending, which comes to more than $1.6 trillion. But that agreement didn’t address potential policy mandates placed within the bills. Before the agreement among congressional leaders, the caucus in a press release said it was “extremely troubled that House Republicans” were even considering such a deal that would allow Democrats to spend more than the cap limits allow. The Senate voted Thursday night to pass a $1.5 trillion omnibus bill that will fund federal government agencies for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022, following in the footsteps of the House, which passed the measure the previous evening.

US Congressional leaders reach spending bill agreement to avert government shutdown - EL PAÍS USA

US Congressional leaders reach spending bill agreement to avert government shutdown.

Posted: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Dressed in military fatigues and boots, he urged lawmakers to keep funding his country's "war of independence" against invading Russian forces. The Senate majority leader, the Democrat Chuck Schumer, echoed Johnson’s assessment while acknowledging that another short-term funding bill would be necessary to prevent a lapse in federal funding. These absences and exits will make it tough for the Republican Conference to pass the spending deal without Democratic support, especially since hardline conservatives have voiced their opposition to any spending bill that doesn’t include hefty cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., agreed on a $1.59 trillion topline for fiscal year 2024. This includes $886 billion in defense spending and $704 billion in nondefense, Johnson said in a “Dear Colleagues” letter, obtained by Punchbowl News. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has also indicated he backs the deal.

Both chambers of Congress approved the measure despite its 2,741 pages of text having only been finalized and released on Wednesday. The legislation also contains $44.9 billion in military, humanitarian and economic aid for Ukraine. The total includes funds to replenish Pentagon stockpiles of weapons the U.S. sent to Ukraine, along with additional aid for NATO allies. Lawmakers will now have to cobble together legislation that passes Congress before money runs out for some key programs Jan. 19. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was "encouraged" by the deal.

If lawmakers can reach an agreement on all full-year appropriations bills before 22 March as promised, the government will be funded through the fiscal year, which ends on 30 September. Appropriators will still have to finalize the text of the deal and Congress will need to pass the bills before the first government funding deadline on Jan. 19. The agreement is likely to enrage far-right House conservatives, who insisted on deep spending cuts and border restrictions as a price for their vote on a spending bill. On February 29, the House passed a short-term continuing resolution extending the funding deadline to March 8 for the first four appropriations bills in the November and January CRs, and to March 22 for the rest.[46] The bill passed the Senate as well on March 1, and was signed into law by President Biden later the same day.

The agreement includes an increase in Pentagon spending to $886.3 billion and it will hold nondefense funding at $772.7 billion, the Times reported. It will include $69 billion that was agreed upon in a deal between McCarthy and the White House. The deal that was reached was a $1.66 trillion agreement to finance the federal government in 2024, The Washington Post reported.