McConnell says Congress ‘obviously’ must pass short-term spending stopgap 

Despite House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) speaking last, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said on Tuesday that Congress will continue to work to avoid a partial government shutdown later this month. He acknowledged there was a “clear” need to pass new short-term funding measures. This year, he is “finished” with short-term, sustained resolutions.

“Clearly we need to pass a CR,” McConnell told reporters in shorthand about the continuing resolution to extend government funding beyond the Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 deadlines.

Mr. McConnell articulated what has become increasingly clear to members of both parties. Even if Congressional leaders reach an agreement, it is highly unlikely that the two parties will finish work on the 12 regular government funding bills for fiscal year 2024 in the coming weeks. Maximum spending limit.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the second-ranking member of Senate Republican leadership, said Tuesday that “it is very likely that we will need to implement some sort of CR to continue funding the government for the foreseeable period.” ” he admitted. future. ”

“We're not going to get all the spending bills done by the upcoming deadline,” Thune acknowledged.

“We don't yet know what will happen next week and whether it will happen in the House or the Senate or where,” he added.

Funding for the Departments of Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development expires on January 19th.

Funding for other federal departments, including the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, expires on February 2nd.

“We're going to keep the government open,” Thune said, calling it “inevitable” to pass some kind of temporary funding measure to avoid a partial shutdown.

This is not good news for Johnson. Less than a month into his role as Speaker, Mr Johnson declared that he did not want to pass any more short-term funding legislation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared in November that “the short-term CR is over''.

Asked whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson had made a “mistake” to declare that the short-term funding gap was over, given the need to avoid a government shutdown, Mr Thune avoided criticizing the Chancellor. Ta.

“I try not to be too much of a referee and probably try not to get too involved with the House of Commons. They did things their own way and had their own challenges in moving bills.” he said.