Congress is scrambling to roll out a authorities funding invoice to avert a shutdown by Friday’s deadline, as lawmakers dash to wrap up enterprise for the yr — and 118th Congress.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was anticipated to unveil the textual content of a stopgap on Sunday, however that plan didn’t come to fruition as negotiators work by last-minute funding hangups. On the high of that listing seems to be {dollars} for farmers, and key lawmakers in each events are actually debating who deserves blame for the delay.
The clock, in the meantime, is ticking: Congress has till Dec. 20 to move a funding invoice or permit the federal government to close down within the waning days of the Biden administration.
Additionally this week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is scheduled to go to Capitol Hill and meet with Senate Republicans as he tries to win help for his nomination to be secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
On the Senate ground, lawmakers will take into account the annual protection invoice, referred to as the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA), after the Home cleared the sprawling measure final week.
Lawmakers look to interrupt funding deadlock
Lawmakers in each events and chambers are ready on congressional negotiators to unveil textual content for a seamless decision, seeking to vote on the laws swiftly to allow them to avert a shutdown by Friday’s funding deadline and depart Washington for the vacation recess.
Johnson and different high members blew by their objective of releasing textual content on Sunday, as last-minute sticking factors gummed up the method — together with disagreements over assist for farmers.
Key lawmakers prompt final week that the stopgap, which is predicted to run for roughly three months, would come with one other one-year extension of the 2018 farm invoice, because the events struggled to barter a longer-term plan. Members have been additionally discussing appropriating extra {dollars} for farmers in that bundle, a prospect that seems to have delayed launch of the funding invoice textual content.
The events are actually debating who’s responsible.
Sen. John Hoeven (N.D.), the highest Republican on the appropriations subcommittee that oversees agriculture funding, wrote in a press release on Saturday that Republicans proposed and GOP management endorsed a bundle with $12 billion of reduction for financial losses and $16 billion in weather-related help, which Democrats are balking at.
“Republican leadership has supported this offer, and we have made a straightforward proposal to Democratic leadership to come to the aid of farmers and ranchers across the country. While we have kept this proposal clean of potentially partisan additions, we have not yet received the Democratic support we need,” Hoeven wrote.
Democrats, in the meantime, are placing the onus on Republicans. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the chair of the subcommittee that oversees agriculture funding, and Rep. David Scott (Ga.), the highest Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, mentioned GOP lawmakers declined a $10 billion proposal.
“Republican Leadership turned down this $10 Billion proposal, rejecting needed economic assistance and increased conservation spending for decades. It is important to stress that this proposal is paid for and does not take any funding away from the critical natural disaster aid that has been requested,” the pair wrote in a press release on Saturday.
“The coming onslaught of farm foreclosures and retirement sales is on the Republican Leadership,” they added.
The talk is ready to come back to a head early this week, when lawmakers return to the Capitol with little time left to avert a shutdown. Home Republicans have demanded that Johnson present lawmakers with no less than 72 hours to overview laws earlier than voting on it, that means the earliest the Home may vote on a stopgap is Thursday.
RFK Jr. begins conferences with senators
Kennedy will start making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, as the previous Democrat and ex-presidential candidate seeks affirmation to be Trump’s secretary of Well being and Human Companies.
The conferences come as Kennedy has confronted some skepticism for earlier feedback questioning vaccines and amplifying the debunked principle that the jabs trigger autism.
Kennedy’s conferences this week embrace a huddle with Republican well being workers from the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, in preparation for a later assembly with Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), the incoming chair of the panel.
Kennedy’s go to comes on the heels of outgoing Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who survived polio as a younger boy, blasting the nominee’s views relating to vaccines, an indication that Kennedy may face some roadblocks in his quest for affirmation.
The New York Instances reported final week {that a} lawyer, Aaron Siri, serving to Kennedy rent well being officers for the Trump administration has petitioned the federal authorities to revoke approval for the polio vaccine. In a press release that doesn’t point out Kennedy nor Siri, McConnell blasted vaccine skepticism and voiced help for medical remedies.
“Evidence to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” McConnell wrote. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
Senate takes up NDAA
The Senate will take up NDAA this week because the higher chamber appears to wrap up enterprise forward of the vacation recess.
The Home final week cleared the mammoth $883.7 billion bundle, which features a 14.5 p.c pay increase for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5 p.c improve for all different members.
The Senate is scheduled to carry the primary procedural vote on the laws Monday, setting the stage for closing passage later within the week. Lawmakers are going through an end-of-the-year deadline to approve the invoice.
Whereas the higher chamber is predicted to clear the must-pass measure in a bipartisan vote, the ultimate tally might be extra partisan than traditional after negotiators included a provision within the bundle that’s drawing ire from Democrats. The language would limit using funds from TRICARE, the well being care program for active-duty service members, for gender-affirming look after the kids 18 years and youthful of service members.
The Home permitted the NDAA in a bipartisan 281-140 vote, however 124 Democrats voted “no,” signaling resistance to the supply.
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) nodded to that provision in a press release final week, however mentioned the chamber would “keep working” regardless of that element.
“This year’s NDAA has some very good things we Democrats wanted in it, it has some bad things we wouldn’t have put in there, and some things that were left out,” Schumer mentioned. “But we’re going to keep working. We’re going to keep working at it. Both sides are working well together and I hope we can finish the job soon.”
