WASHINGTON — Congress is on the fence December 20 deadline to fund the government and avoid a shutdownand Speaker Mike Johnson says House Republicans will likely push the fight into early 2025 rather than reach a full-year funding deal this year.
“We are running out of time. December 20 is the deadline. “We’re still hopeful that we’ll be able to do that, but if not, we’ll have an interim measure that I think will go into the first part of next year and give us the time we need to do that,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
That would extend the deadline to the beginning of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. By then, Republicans will wrest control of the Senate from Democrats, while holding a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, giving them more control over federal funding for the rest of the fiscal year.
“It would ultimately be a good move because the country would benefit from it — because then the Republicans would have control and we would have a little bit more say over that spending,” Johnson said. “But the new reform agenda begins in earnest as soon as President Donald J. Trump takes office in January, and we have a full agenda.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., the top member of the House Appropriations Committee who writes the financial documents, said there is still no “top line” agreement between the parties on how much the government should spend.
He said it would likely be pushed to January or March next year, more likely in March.
“We had a meeting with the speaker earlier this week … he doesn’t think there’s any way to get it done by the end of the year,” Aderholt said. “I’ll be very shocked if we do something, if we get something resolved by the end of the year.”
But other Republicans disagree with that approach and prefer to end the funding deal this year to avoid being stuck with Trump during his first 100 days. This is typically a window where the president has maximum political capital, and some GOP senators prefer to use this time to confirm their nominees and advance legislative priorities, from tax cuts to border security.
“I’d rather do it this year,” Sen. John Buzman, R-Ark., a member of the Appropriations Committee, said of the funding deal.
“I would like a situation to clear the deck so we don’t have to deal with this next year,” Boozman said. “With the new administration coming in… approvals will take a long time. So we’ll deal with it. And then we really have to work on next year’s allocations.”
But even if they fight through early 2025, Republicans won’t have full control over spending decisions. Government funding legislation is subject to a 60-vote threshold in the Senate, which top Republicans have vowed to uphold. That means they would have to agree with Democrats, who currently control the Senate and want to pass full annual funding this year, not 2025.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., who will become vice chair in January, told reporters there is “no reason to further delay or weaken government agencies by forcing them to operate on autopilot in the coming months.” “We must pass bipartisan, full-year spending legislation by the end of the year.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the incoming Appropriations Committee, told NBC News: “I think we can come to an agreement, and I think it’s really important that we give the new administration a clean slate and not worry about” funding this fiscal year.
Still, if GOP leaders advance a standing bill (also known as a continuing resolution or “CR”) rather than a full-year deal, Democrats are likely to pass it to avoid a shutdown.
“We have supported, I have supported CRs in the past. Let’s see what happens,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the No. 3 Democrat in the House. “Mike Johnson has made it very clear that he will take his cues from the incoming president. It’s not new to this topic, by the way, it’s something that’s been consistent, so we’ll see what the incoming administration has to say about it and the position of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. in the next few weeks.”
Some conservatives see another reason for the delay: the lack of thorough vetting to avoid an “omnibus” bill in time for Christmas, bundling all federal funding into one massive, last-minute package.
“The Speaker said he was against the omnibus. Most of us are against the omnibus. We don’t want to see any blockage at the expense of major spending,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who said Congress would pass a continuing resolution “by early March, 2025.” .
“The bottom line is that we have to control spending and not let there be a runaway spending bill in December,” he said.
Boozman added that if Congress waits too long to pass a full-year funding bill, it could force it automatic reduction to military units and other programs included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
“The other thing is that it’s going to lead to a cut in protection, which I think worries a lot of members,” he said.