Congressional leaders reach deal to avert government shutdown

Congressional leaders reached a deal to avert a government shutdown next week, settling on a two-phase stopgap bill that would keep the lights on in Washington through March, according to three people familiar with the proposal.

Under the agreement, the government's new funding deadlines are March 1 and March 7. The agreement comes ahead of Friday's closure deadline, with a second deadline of February 2nd.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the text of the continuing resolution will be posted online Sunday night. A Republican lawmaker told The Hill that Republican leaders will hold a conference call with lawmakers Sunday at 8 p.m. that could include a discussion of plans to avert a government shutdown. is said to be high.

The proposal must be approved by the House and Senate by Friday night to avoid a partial shutdown, but would give the House and Senate more time to complete work on the 12 spending bills. become. Congressional leaders announced an agreement on major spending over the weekend, but appropriators need more time to iron out the details of each funding bill.

The announcement of the two-step continuing resolution is sure to anger conservative House Republicans, who have traditionally opposed stopgap legislation and been loathe to see Republican leaders break deals with Democrats.

But this two-step approach was largely supported by House conservatives during the November shutdown showdown. The structure was seen as a way to avoid a massive government-wide omnibus funding bill in December that Republicans typically loathe.

Adding insult to injury, hardliners are demanding that border security be included in government funding efforts, pinning a politically thorny topic into an already complicated government shutdown showdown.

These dynamics mean the deal will likely need significant support from Democrats to get it across the finish line in the House.

Meanwhile, support for another two-step continuing resolution marks a reversal of sorts for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who vowed in November not to take up the stopgap bill again.

“The House Republican Conference is committed to ensuring that a situation like this never happens again. The short-term CR is over,” he said at a press conference just before the House approved the two-step interim bill. Told.

But he said at a press conference Wednesday as the clock ticked down for a shutdown: “We're not ruling anything out.”

House Republicans introduced various types of stopgap bills this week. One option is a long-term continuing resolution that would trigger an across-the-board 1% cut, which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck with President Biden last year. It was a mechanism included in the debt limitation agreement.

During an Oval Office meeting Friday morning, Mr. Johnson asked a group of moderate Republicans if they could support a year-round continuance resolution, and nearly all of them said no, one attendee said. The official added that he has indicated that the resolution will continue into February or March to buy time to complete work on all 12 spending bills.

News of the agreement comes less than a week after Congressional leaders announced agreements on major spending amounts, an important step toward completing the regular-order spending process. Become.

The deal sets maximum spending at $1.59 trillion, plus approximately $69 billion in additional budget adjustments, which were made by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). is roughly in line with the spending cap included in the debt limitation agreement reached with Biden last year. Republicans were furious. Prime Minister Johnson highlighted several adjustments to the agreement, including accelerated recovery of mandatory IRS funds and additional recovery of unused pandemic funds.

Conservative House Republicans opposed the deal and urged Johnson to come up with an alternative plan that includes deep spending cuts. But the chairman said on Friday that the agreement “remains” in place.

But even though Johnson stuck to the deal, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) said he was still “legitimately considering alternatives.” He claimed to believe it.

Contributed by Emily Brooks.

Updated at 19:50.