Staring down a government shutdown deadline in less than three weeks, congressional leaders have begun serious negotiations toward a funding patch that punts the deadline into President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
A grand deal on final funding bills is highly unlikely before the Dec. 20 deadline, considering Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have yet to strike a “toplines” agreement on overall spending totals for the military and non-defense programs. So lawmakers must now ready yet another stopgap that keeps federal agencies running on static funding — after they already punted on spending back in September.
Schumer said on the floor Monday that “both sides are making progress negotiating on a bill that will pass the House and Senate with bipartisan support.”
“We need to keep divisive and unnecessary provisions out of any government funding extension, or it will get harder to pass a CR in time,” he added. “For now, I’m pleased negotiations are on the right track.”
Republicans had been waiting for Trump to indicate if he preferred a stopgap bill that punted funding decisions into his term or if he wanted lawmakers to negotiate new spending levels now, so he could focus on other legislative priorities as he took over the executive branch. Trump has been uncharacteristically silent on the issue, but lawmakers are running out of time to incorporate the president-elect’s stance into bipartisan and bicameral talks if they want to avoid a shutdown. Johnson has said he and Trump talk frequently about funding, but the speaker won’t divulge the details of those discussions.
If Trump weighs in with sweeping demands closer to the deadline, when many details have already been hammered out, it could increase the chance of a deal falling apart. Neither party wants a shutdown at this point.
The length of the funding patch, known as a continuing resolution or a CR, as well as what special exceptions are included and how much disaster aid is attached will be the main focus of negotiations.
House conservatives are advocating for a new March deadline, which would bring it perilously close to a late-April trigger that would mean sweeping funding cuts unless Congress passes a bill with new spending levels by then. Democrats and many appropriators in both parties want an earlier deadline, both to defuse the risk of those cuts and to give federal agencies budget certainty sooner.
Leaders also aim to clear tens of billions of dollars in disaster aid this month, likely attached to a funding patch, despite calls from some GOP senators for a standalone vote. The White House requested more than $98 billion in emergency funding to help cover the costs of recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
And Democratic and Republican negotiations are each pushing to add funding for other priorities that could prompt partisan skirmishes. GOP lawmakers also want to leave out funding the White House sought for things like climate and education programs.
The speaker long ago swore off a pre-Christmas so-called omnibus spending package that bundles the dozen individual measures that keep federal agencies funded each year, a mammoth bill that now regularly totals over a trillion dollars. Congress is out of time to pass all 12 bills individually through both chambers, a process that lawmakers now struggle to complete every year.
Conservatives in the House have long protested the omnibus process and would likely be incensed if Johnson greenlit such a bill now. They favor passing a stopgap bill this time, arguing Trump and the GOP majorities next term should set spending levels. Given Johnson needs to keep GOP lawmakers unified behind him before the formal Jan. 3 speakership vote, resorting to a stopgap this month helps him by delaying Republican infighting until after he has re-secured his post.
