Congress races to avert government shutdown with sprawling spending bill

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Dec 18, 2024

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Congress raced to avert a government shutdown as soon as the weekend with a sprawling stopgap spending bill that includes billions in hurricane aid along with handouts to farmers and a host of other seemingly unrelated priorities.

The bipartisan deal centers around a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at a current levels through mid-March when Republican leaders who control all three branches of government can try to pass their own budget.

New spending in the end-of-year package includes $100 billion in aid for those hit by Hurricane Helene and Milton, $10 billion for farmers and money to rebuild the Baltimore bridge destroyed in a shipping accident and other budgetary goodies designed to win votes from Democrats and Republicans alike.

“We have to be able to help those who are in these dire straits,” GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said the agreement would provide money for Democratic priorities like child care, workforce training and job placement.

“We are now on our way to avoiding a government shutdown,” Schumer said.

The measure would prevent a partial government shutdown set to begin after midnight Friday night. It would kick final decisions on this budget year’s spending levels to a new Republican-led Congress and President-elect Donald Trump. The continuing resolution generally continues current spending levels for agencies.

Passage of the measure is one of the final actions lawmakers will consider this week before adjourning for the holidays and making way for the next Congress.

The compromise with Democrats follows the same playbook Johnson has resorted to several times since Republicans took control of the House two years ago with only a slim majority.

With some conservatives unwilling to vote for what they call wasteful government spending bills, Johnson has repeatedly been forced to get help from Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to pass them with large-scale support from across the aisle.

That strategy means Johnson has to make major concessions to Democrats on a host of spending issues and has to avoid inserting right-wing “poison pills” like anti-abortion or other policy edicts.

Conservative Republicans quickly cried foul about the new bill and close to half the GOP caucus is expected to vote against it. Some budget hawks object to any new spending without broad budget reforms that are opposed by others because they could cause painful cuts to popular programs.

But enough Democrats will likely back it, allowing it to move on to the Senate for final passage.