WASHINGTON — When Congress returns for one last burst of action before adjourning session this week, it faces a key deadline of Dec. 20 to avert a government shutdown.
Democrats and Republicans have resigned to pass a continuing resolution, or CR, that would temporarily fund the government until early 2025 — likely until March — as they run out of time to strike a full funding deal this year. The two parties have not even agreed on an overall level of spending for the new fiscal year, let alone how to divide the money between parts of the government.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hinted at the inevitability of the short-term bill on Monday, saying: “We must keep divisive and unnecessary provisions in any government funding extension or it will be difficult to pass a bill. Timely CR.”
For Republicans, this is a double-edged sword.
The upside for Republicans in setting deadlines is that with President-elect Donald Trump back in the White House and the GOP taking control of the Senate and maintaining a narrow majority in the House, they will have more leverage to shape government funding in the new year.
The big downside is that it could create a critical period early in Trump’s presidency, potentially wasting valuable time getting his nominees confirmed through the Senate. A big party-line bill Republicans are considering extending tax cuts and pushing an immigration and border security agenda.
“We have to do a lot at once,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said of the first 100 days of Trump’s second term. “We will walk and chew gum.”
Some Republicans would prefer to sink the funding deadline early in Trump’s new presidency.
“I have a lot of preferences. But realistically, we’re not going to make a budget between now and Christmas. It’s not going to happen,” Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News. “I expect we will get a CR by mid-March. I expect this CR to be pretty thin.”
Kennedy added that Congress would likely “add $30 [billion] This year, it will provide $40 billion in disaster relief to CR, including funding for states hit by hurricanes.
Funding the government is a messy process that usually requires bipartisan support because bills are subject to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. Democrats have significant power to shape legislation regardless of the deadline; they now hold the majority, and starting next year, Republicans will have 53 senators, far short of the 60 they need to control the process themselves.
Another dynamic is that passing another massive Christmas spending package is a non-starter for many House Republicans and could jeopardize House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bid for re-election on Jan. 3, especially without with the weak GOP majority further reduced. .
Another protracted speaker race could also complicate Trump’s presidency, albeit in different ways.
Johnson’s office would not comment on the length of the CR, saying it had not yet been decided.
Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, the top member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the funding legislation, said there is little time.
“Once they decide what they’re going to do — if they’re going to try to implement any of these appropriations bills early or if they’re going to CR for all of them by March — I mean, that’s a real debate. We cannot fulfill all of them,” he said. We could probably negotiate a few, maybe seven or eight bills, and finish up to 20, but we’d have to get to that number soon.
“So my guess is — and it’s just my guess — that we’ll have a CR for everybody by the end of March,” he said.