Congress extends government funding, averting a shutdown Los Angeles Times
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"This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories," Johnson said in a statement after speaking with GOP lawmakers in an afternoon conference call. "The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess." "We have consistently made clear that a government shutdown would hurt the economy, our national security and everyday Americans during a very fragile time and must be avoided," they said. In Thursday afternoon’s vote, 107 House Republicans voted to keep federal agencies funded and 106 voted against the measure.
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The last-minute GOP push to avoid the US government from lapsing in funding came together rapidly this morning, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy emerging from meetings to announce a vote would be held on a 45-day stopgap measure. What the ultraconservative members are suggesting — abandoning a deal days after it was announced — would amount to a remarkable breach by Mr. Johnson with Senate Democrats, Republicans and the White House just three months into his speakership. Mr. Johnson said on Thursday after the meeting that he would continue to discuss “funding options” with a cross-section of lawmakers, and he denied making any promises.
House Speaker Mike Johnson proposes 2-step stopgap funding bill to avert government shutdown
“While we have been working nonstop on our bills, there are differences that cause some concern” about a possible shutdown, Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, who serves as chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said Friday. Pratt said he is mainly serving Chan’s team in an “administrative support role” — making clear that Braun is doing the legal heavy lifting. The judge told Pratt that, as an attorney of record in the case, he would need to step up and familiarize himself with the exhibits. Brendan Pratt, part of Chan’s defense team, told the courtroom that Harland Braun, 80, had “some type of infection” affecting his organs and would likely be out of commission for several days.
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Rep. Kevin McCarthy was booted from the speakership days later, and the House was effectively paralyzed for most of the month while Republicans tried to elect a replacement. Republicans eventually were unanimous in electing Johnson speaker, but his elevation has hardly eased the dynamic that led to McCarthy's removal — a conference torn on policy as well as how much to spend on federal programs. House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted Friday he is sticking with the bipartisan spending deal he struck with the other congressional leaders, but he offered no clear path for overcoming hard-right opposition within his own party to prevent a partial government shutdown next week.
House Democrats discussed the measure in their caucus Tuesday morning but did not make a final decision on supporting the bill. While Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed concern about the structure of the bill, he told reporters he had seen no poison pills in it. Known as a continuing resolution, it received substantial support from House Democrats, who helped ensure its passage over the objections of dozens of Republicans. The bill is the first major piece of legislation the House has approved since Johnson became speaker. It also added strict new border security provisions that would kickstart building the wall at the southern border with Mexico, among other measures. Additionally, the package would have set up a bipartisan debt commission to address the nation’s mounting debt load.
It was agreed to by the other congressional leaders from both parties and approved by the House and Senate as part of an effort to raise the nation's debt limit to avert a federal default. The government has repeatedly been on the brink of a shutdown since the end of last September. Unable to pass the annual appropriations bills before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, Congress has relied on short-term extensions, known as continuing resolutions, to keep the government operating.
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The action came a few hours after the Senate had voted overwhelmingly to pass the bill by a vote of 77-18. Such brief shutdowns have occurred before, often when congressional leaders waited until the last minute to broker an agreement, hoping that all senators consent to moving up the clock. Because it only takes one senator to block that agreement, individual lawmakers occasionally take up the powerful tool to make a point. Some have suggested that Johnson should consider trying to pass a temporary measure that would fund the government for several more weeks, into March. They are pressing Johnson to refuse the deal, with its $1.66 trillion in spending for the year, and to instead consider a temporary measure that would keep the government open but force 1% across-the-board cuts that are required to kick in if the broader package falls apart. The new deadlines raise the pressure on the House to pass spending legislation amid Republican divisions.
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The White House and some Republicans pan Johnson's 2-part plan to avoid a shutdown - NPR
The White House and some Republicans pan Johnson's 2-part plan to avoid a shutdown.
Posted: Sun, 12 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
He also championed its exclusion of President Biden’s $106 billion supplemental aid request for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the southern border. Johnson, meanwhile, has defended his approach and said his so-called "laddered" continuing resolution will avoid Congress being forced to accept a massive omnibus spending package right before the holidays. The funding proposal posed a test for Johnson, who did not hold any positions in GOP leadership before he claimed the gavel last month. His ascension to the speakership capped a chaotic October for House Republicans, which began with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's historic removal from the post as a result of a deal he made with Democrats in late September to keep agencies funded for 45 days — through Nov. 17.
Increases for education
The current spending plan expires at midnight Friday, and certain government operations will halt if House Republicans cannot agree on a plan that also gets approval from President Joe Biden and the Democratic Senate. "Republicans must stop negotiating against ourselves over fears of what the Senate may do with the promise 'roll over today and we'll fight tomorrow,'" the group said in a statement. Her memo also repeated her focus on homelessness — one of the bigger question marks for next year’s budget, since it’s not clear how much her efforts will cost. A memo that Bass sent to general managers of most city departments on Feb. 15 laid out some of her administration’s thinking. Los Angeles mayors have historically begun their terms in July, giving them nearly a year in office before they were responsible for delivering a budget. But thanks to a change in the election cycle, Bass was plunged into below-the-waterline budget season as soon as she took office.
House Republicans pointed to the national debt, now exceeding $33 trillion, for Moody's decision. Analysts have warned that with interest rates heading higher, interest costs on the national debt will eat up a rising share of tax revenue. Some Republican lawmakers, however, said the Democratic change in tactics was a sign of remorse over helping to oust McCarthy. Many House Republicans are eager to move past the divisions that have tormented their ranks ever since taking the majority last January. At a closed-door session Tuesday morning, much of the discussion focused on how to create unity in the party heading into the November elections.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, the House financial services chairman, said Saturday that the House GOP is open to make changes on the pay-raise language in their bill. The House has passed seven bills, while the Senate has passed three that were grouped together in a "minibus." None have made it through both chambers. She accused House Republicans of "wasting precious time with an unserious proposal that has been panned by members of both parties."
Administration officials highlighted several major funding increases for education. One of the largest would more than double aid to schools in areas of high poverty under the federal government’s Title I program. The increase, to $36.5 billion, would be the biggest for the Title I program since it was established under President Johnson more than half a century ago, administration officials said. The spending request marks a major break from budgets submitted by Trump, who routinely proposed deep cuts in domestic programs that Congress largely rejected. Trump signed off on bipartisan spending plans that, combined with the tax cuts he signed into law in late 2017, swelled the federal deficit to record levels. Republicans convened for a closed-door meeting later Friday afternoon that grew heated, lawmakers said, but failed to produce a new plan.
The spending package includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. It would be the biggest American infusion of assistance yet to Ukraine, above even President Joe Biden’s $37 billion emergency request, and ensure that funding flows to the war effort for months to come. Greene did say that "plans are still developing" when asked about her timeline with the motion to vacate.
In 2018, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) prompted a brief shutdown over concerns about the deficit. More substantial shutdowns took place in 2013 over Obamacare and in 2018 over Trump’s border wall. Had a shutdown occurred, it probably would have been brief — lasting only as long as the Senate took to run out the debate clock. Still, even short shutdowns mean added uncertainty for federal operations, and many senators, even those in the minority, are loath to risk the embarrassment of Congress failing to live up to one of its most basic requirements. By evening, Democrats agreed to grant Republicans their amendment vote, largely because two GOP absences ensured the effort would fail. The hard-right flank is also insisting that new immigration policies be included, which they say would stop the record flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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