OAN Staff Avril Elfi
Sunday, September 22, 2024 3:49 PM
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the House will vote on a three-month stopgap budget bill to keep the federal government running through December 20th.Number.
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On Sunday, Johnson, R-Louisiana, said the House of Representatives bill next week.
If implemented, the measure would help the government avoid a planned shutdown early next month.
“This bill will be a very limited, bare-bones CR that includes only those enhancements that are absolutely necessary,” Johnson said in a letter to his colleagues.
“This is not the solution any of us would want, but it is the most prudent course under the current circumstances,” he continued. “History teaches us, and current polls prove, that shutting down the government with less than 40 days until a crucial election would be political malfeasance.”
Johnson's plan does not include a provision of the SAVE Act that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. He previously tried to tie the act to a six-month continuing resolution, but the House rejected the proposal last week.
“The Administration strongly encourages swift passage of a bipartisan bill,” a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
“This short-term fiscal consolidation will give Congress time to complete an annual budget bill that will keep the government running and serve our defense, veterans, seniors, children and working families, and address the urgent needs of the American people, including communities recovering from disasters,” the spokesperson continued.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement he was “pleased” with the outcome of the bipartisan negotiations but criticized Johnson's handling of the situation.
“I am pleased that bipartisan negotiations have led to a swift government funding deal without budget cuts or poison pills, but this same deal could have been reached two weeks ago,” Schumer said in a statement. “Instead, Speaker Johnson has gone along with the MAGA game and wasted valuable time.”
Schumer told reporters that it was “highly likely” the government would shut down at the end of the month.
“The really good news is we have a very good chance of avoiding a government shutdown this week that would cause so much pain to New York and America,” Schumer said.
Last week, House Republicans rejected their own plan to avert a government shutdown.
Schumer said Sunday that he was “close” to reaching an agreement with Johnson.
“I'm willing to talk. I've been talking over the last four days with Speaker Johnson, his staff and my staff. We're close to an agreement,” Schumer told reporters.
“We can get this done, but there can be no delay,” he said, adding, “We can't have either side of Congress, Democrat or Republican, standing up and saying if I don't get my way, I'm going to shut down the government. We can't have that. The consequences are too severe for the American people.”
Schumer's comments came after he, in a floor speech last Tuesday, called Johnson's previous strategy of passing both the CR and the SAVE Act, known as a continuing resolution, “unworkable” and urged them to abandon it.
Johnson has struggled in recent weeks to get caucus agreement on a spending plan, especially since former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to shut down the government if they couldn't tie the bill to the SAVE Act, which deals with voting and elections.
“If House and Senate Republicans cannot get absolute assurances about the security of our elections, then they should not move forward with a continuing budget resolution of any kind….it should be stopped!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social earlier this month.
Congress has just over a week to pass the CR Act to avert a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on October 1st.stIf the House approves the bill, it will be sent to the Senate.
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