WASHINGTON — The House and Senate are expected to vote this week on a short-term government funding bill for seven more days — requiring lawmakers to agree on a long-term spending resolution before they head home for the Christmas break.
“By the end of this week, members should be ready to take swift action within a week [continuing resolution] so we can give appropriators more time to finish a full funding bill before the recess,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned his colleagues on the Senate floor Monday .
Republicans and Democrats have been divided for months over the so-called omnibus bill, which sets total defense and non-defense funding for fiscal year 2023, which began on Oct. 1.
In late September, lawmakers approved a continuing resolution to fund the government until Friday, and until then they were expected to reach a consensus on further spending in a “lame duck” midterm session.
However, no agreement was reached.
Schumer said officials from both sides had “positive and productive conversations” over the weekend, and that “both sides are moving forward in good faith to reach an agreement, even if it’s not what either side wants.”
However, some Republican senators — including Florida’s Rick Scott, Utah’s Mike Lee, Texas’ Ted Cruz and Indiana’s Mike Brown — have until January 3 to vote on the major funding bill, when the new Congress, including members of the GOP, opposed to giving. – headed by House, took the oath.
“It is both negligence and poor leadership that we Republicans ignore the will of the American people and rubber-stamp an omnibus spending bill that will fund President Biden’s agenda for another ten months without examining his reckless policies.” we believe it will be. inflation to 40-year highs,” they wrote in a Nov. 30 letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
On Monday, Schumer said he was “optimistic” that the Senate could continue negotiations until Dec. 23 and pass a short-term funding bill “sooner to avoid a shutdown that neither side wants.”
The Senate is also expected to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for 2023 this week, which sets the Pentagon’s funding priorities and policies for the current fiscal year. The House overwhelmingly passed the bill on Friday.
McConnell said Monday that the Senate should pass the NDAA “as soon as possible,” but warned that it would have limited impact without passing a full-year funding bill.
“Authorization of Congress[ing] The equipment, training and equipment that our armed forces need, we will achieve very little if we cannot provide real funding,” McConnell said. knows what needs to be done to pass the bill – it’s no secret here.”
To reach a deal, the Republican leader said, Democrats would have to roll back their spending after two years of “significantly increased domestic spending using partisan reconciliation legislation in addition to their normal appropriations.”
“The funding agreement must fully fund our national defense as written in the NDAA, as President Biden will not use additional funds beyond what Democrats have requested based on domestic priorities,” he said. “In other words, don’t deviate from what the president asked internally earlier this year.”
If Democrats make cuts, McConnell said a full-year funding bill could be passed.
“If our Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate accept this reality in the near future, we may still be able to put together a funding bill for a year that will allow our military commanders to invest in the plan and adversaries It gives us the confidence we need to stay competitive with China,” he said.
Otherwise, he added, “the option would be a short-term bipartisan funding bill early next year.”
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