Congress strikes deal to avoid government shutdown

On December 20, 2024By Littum

Congressional leaders have struck a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded beyond a looming Dec. 20 shutdown deadline.

Legislation rolled out by management Tuesday would kick Friday’s funding deadline to March 14 to buy more time for the next Congress and the incoming president to figure out how to fund the government for most of next year.

The newly unveiled 1,500-page package also contains a host of additions, including a one-year extension of the farm bill, about $100 billion in disaster relief, about $10 billion in financial assistance for farmers and other authorizations.

The deal ends weeks of negotiations over disaster relief and overall funding — most recently a clash over farm aid — and marks the last funding deal by a divided Congress before Washington welcomes the next class in January.

Details of the deal had already begun to come into focus ahead of Tuesday’s release, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) prepared members for the big package, including disaster relief for areas hit hard by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The bill covers nearly $30 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as officials have sounded the alarm over the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund in recent months.

Lawmakers agreed to more than $2 billion in funding for the Small Business Administration after officials said its disaster loan program — which businesses and homeowners rely on for low-interest loans to recover from disasters — ran out of funds during hurricane season.

The bill also includes $10 billion in financial assistance for farmers, with billions more in disaster relief for farmers.

Farm aid had emerged as a key issue in recent days, and the deal came after some Republicans threatened to vote against the measure if it did not include financial aid for farmers and ranchers.

The bill also includes 500 pages of health care, including pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) industry reforms, expansions of Medicare telehealth flexibility, reauthorization of legislation to prevent pandemics and address the opioid crisis, payments to community health centers, a rollback of physician payment cuts.

And it includes a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill as well as an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program authorization.

Overall, House GOP leadership said the designated emergency and disaster funding hit the continuing resolution by about $110 billion, not including offsets.

“I’m always happy to look at any offsets that we have that we can pass, and so far we haven’t been able to get anything to get the votes for them,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R- Okla. ) told The Hill on Tuesday when asked about earlier discussions surrounding the offsets.

Still, the lack of offsets is sure to upset conservatives who have called for additional funding to be offset by savings elsewhere.

Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) also took aim at Republicans for not recycling conservation and rural energy dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act in the farm bill, which she said Democrats had proposed.

“Moving these resources would have made a permanent and lasting investment in popular conservation and energy programs, while adding nearly $20 billion to the Farm Bill baseline and creating an additional $10 billion offset,” she said in a statement .

“This could have been used to increase financial assistance, as Democrats proposed, or it could have been invested in other Farm Bill needs. This idea had bipartisan support among committee leaders and would have greatly helped Congress write a new farm Bill next year.”

House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) told The Hill earlier Tuesday that he also would have supported the potential pay-for and was unsure why it didn’t make the cut.

“I don’t understand the opposition to it or who opposed it, but obviously I support it,” he said, adding “it will be a good payment for us to use in the future.”

Johnson said the goal was “a very simple, very clean” funding plan “to get us into next year where we have a unified government.” But he added that “acts of God,” such as hurricanes, required disaster relief and other additions to the package.

The additions to the bill, along with the delayed rollout, frustrated Republicans from all corners of the conference Tuesday as they awaited the text of the measure.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) complained that it was akin to a year-end omnibus, which conservatives loathe. And rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, called it “a total dumpster fire.”

“The appetite to risk shutting down the government is not there. This is the playbook that they have used for a long time, with quite a lot of success,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (RS.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, after the party was briefed on the contents of the agreement earlier. Tuesday.

“At some point we’re going to have to call them on it,” Norman said.

The House is expected to move quickly on the legislation as both chambers face a severe time crunch to get the package across the finish line to avoid a shutdown before the holidays.

Johnson said earlier Tuesday that the goal is to go “through regular process” to consider the text in the lower house. If he goes that route, the earliest lawmakers could vote on the text would be Friday under the House’s 72-hour rule — which would mean the Senate would have to act quickly before the midnight Friday funding deadline.

Negotiators have expressed confidence in completing their funding work within the proposed three-month timeframe, but some hoped for a shorter break to pressure Congress to tie up spending more quickly next year. Defense hawks have also raised concerns about what the funding freeze could mean for the Pentagon.

Some Republicans have also expressed concern that delaying the bills further into next year could distract from other priorities the party hopes to tackle in the first months of President Trump’s first months back in the Oval Office.

The deal has attracted support from Democrats in both chambers.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said the bipartisan package will provide “communities across the country with critical relief and invest $100 billion to help Americans rebuild and recover.”

She and other Democrats have also praised a portion of the bill they say would cover replacement costs for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

“With the inclusion in the continuing resolution of our Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act, Congress is now committed to covering the full cost of replacing the bridge. This will allow the bridge to be built as quickly as possible,” said Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in a joint statement Tuesday.

“Our provision also ensures that federal taxpayers will be reimbursed through proceeds from insurance payouts and lawsuits undertaken by the Department of Justice, the Maryland Attorney General and others.”

Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell and Nathaniel Weixel contributed. Updated at 22:17

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