Congressional leaders reach agreement on final spending bill ahead of shutdown

Congressional leaders said Tuesday morning they had reached an agreement on the latest package of spending legislation to fund the federal government through the fall, although it was unclear whether they would be able to pass it in time to avoid a brief partial shutdown due to the fall. weekend.

Republicans in the House of Representatives, Democrats in the Senate and the White House disagreed over funding levels for the Department of Homeland Security. They spent days litigating disagreements that threatened to jeopardize the spending package that also funds the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies. They face a midnight deadline on Friday to implement the measure and avoid a funding loss.

A breakthrough Monday evening, in which Democrats and Republicans were able to agree on homeland security funding levels for the rest of the fiscal year, allowed negotiators to finalize their deal.

“An agreement has been reached” that will allow Congress to fund the government through September 30, Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement. “The House and Senate committees have begun drafting bills so they can be released and debated by the full House and Senate as quickly as possible.”

Still, the delay in closing the deal could pave the way for a brief interruption in government funding this weekend. It will take time for congressional staffers to draft the text of the bill, which packs six spending measures into a significant piece of legislation.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have demanded that Johnson adhere to an internal rule that gives lawmakers 72 hours to consider the text of a bill before voting on it, although previous House leaders have sometimes abandoned that directive .

And any number of senators can raise procedural hurdles to the bill’s passage and demand votes on proposed changes or object to its speedy consideration. These tactics could ensure final passage at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, when funding expires.

Late last year, Mr Johnson halved the spending process by creating two partial government shutdown deadlines instead of one, in a bid to avoid asking members to cast a single vote on a huge catchall to shut down the whole government funding, which Republicans have objected to. until repeatedly.

Earlier this month, lawmakers were able to negotiate and pass a $6 billion spending package that narrowly missed its first March 8 deadline. second deadline at the end of this week.