Congress is back to square one on government spending after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pulled a dead-on-arrival bill that would have kept the government open for six months, but also included non-spending related measures that Democrats found unacceptable. Without action, the government will shutdown Oct. 1.
“We’re just forgoing our duty, our sworn constitutional duty, really,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said. “It’s the one thing is to pass a budget, and we haven’t done it in 30 years.”
Here are the key disagreements preventing a deal.
Lawmakers have not agreed on how long a continuing resolution should last. A continuing resolution, or CR, temporarily keeps the government open at current levels while lawmakers work on a deal for the full fiscal year.
Johnson wanted a six month extension which would mean the next Congress and next president would handle it. Democrats want a three month extension, which would require the final deal to be approved before the end of this calendar year, during a lame-duck session.
“We are simply asking traditional Republicans to partner with House Democrats in a bipartisan way to find the common ground necessary to avoid a Donald Trump-inspired, extreme MAGA Republican shutdown,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said.
Jeffries is trying to brand it a MAGA shutdown because Trump called for one on Truth Social if Republicans don’t get their way.
“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET,” Trump posted. “THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO “STUFF” VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN – CLOSE IT DOWN!!!”
Democrats want to keep non-spending related measures out of the bill. Republicans included the Save Act, which would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote.
“When you start tacking on brand new bills, brand new pieces of legislation, onto what already exists, of course you’re going to start running into a problem,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said.
“I would say that we should probably do a CR and then reevaluate in probably January time frame,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said. “So I think that that would probably be the best solution, but only with the condition that Save Act is attached. If it’s not, no go.”
Luna thinks an omnibus bill is likely later this year. That’s one giant package that contains all spending, rather than breaking them up by subject or category. To get to that, Congress needs a CR this month.
“The speaker’s probably going to have to do what he did last time and the time before that, and what McCarthy did, which is work with the Democrats, who are the adults in the room, to keep the government open,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said.
The House has just nine work days left and the Senate has 11 days until government funding expires. On that same day, Congress is scheduled to leave Washington for the entire month of October so members can campaign.
