Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that Congress is struggling to build bipartisan consensus just days before a critical funding deadline, and that the government will continue to push back against what he called “harmful and unnecessary government.” He slammed Republicans for threatening to shut down the agency.
“We are just days away from a partial government shutdown on March 1st. Unless Republicans get serious, their extreme shutdown will endanger the economy, raise costs, and reduce safety. , will cause untold suffering to the American people,” Schumer wrote in the letter. to lawmakers on Sunday.
Schumer said “intense discussions” continue between the bipartisan leadership of both chambers and the Senate’s top appropriators.
Lawmakers have until March 1 to pass legislation funding the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and other departments in fiscal year 2024, or the first in years. Government agencies are at risk of a partial shutdown.
Cardinals in both chambers have been working for weeks to craft 12 annual government funding bills to gain the bipartisan support needed to pass. However, many senior appropriators acknowledge that partisan riders are a significant obstacle in negotiations.
“We’re basically done negotiating at the subcommittee level,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who heads the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations subcommittee, said during the House recess earlier this month. He told The Hill just before.
“There are obviously some outstanding items that have jumped to the four corners,” he added, referring to riders and other issues.
The House Freedom Caucus also increased pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) earlier this week to introduce a one-year stopgap funding bill. The bill would trigger automatic cuts in government spending if the party fails to win concessions on controversial policy riders.
Among the measures called for by the ultra-conservative caucus are efforts to “reduce Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ salary to zero dollars,” efforts to target the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, and funding for family planning programs. This includes stopping.
But at the same time, Democrats are pushing to oppose so-called “poison pills.”
Congressional leaders were expected to announce funding as early as this weekend, as the threat of another shutdown looms closer.
Mr. Schumer said Sunday that he “hopes to have a bill ready this weekend” to give lawmakers time to consider the text, but shortly afterward he shifted the blame to House Republicans, saying the party was “trying to sort itself out.” “It is clear that more time is needed,” he said.
“Unfortunately, extreme House Republicans have shown they are more likely to cause chaos than pass legislation,” Schumer said. “In the face of a devastating government shutdown that will hurt our economy and threaten the safety of American families, I sincerely hope that Speaker Johnson will once again stand up to the extremists in his caucus and do the right thing. I am.”
Mr. Schumer also criticized Mr. Johnson for not bringing to the floor a major defense and foreign aid package passed by the Senate that included funding for Ukraine.
“I call on the Chairman to go to Ukraine and witness what we witnessed, because even a person with good sense and good intentions would not be able to see with his own eyes the devastation of that war. , because I believe it is virtually impossible to turn our backs on Ukraine,” Schumer said. He made the remarks in a letter sent after a recent weekend visit to Ukraine as part of a parliamentary delegation.
“If Speaker Johnson brings a supplemental national security bill to the floor today, it will pass with majority support from both Democrats and Republicans. The time for action is now. Nothing can get in the way of blind obedience to Donald Trump,” Schumer added.
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