US Congressional leaders reach spending bill agreement to avert government shutdown

Almost six months late, U.S. Congress is preparing to approve the last package of spending legislation. Republican and Democratic congressional leaders have reached an agreement that must still be greenlighted by both the House and the Senate, but which would definitively chase away the specter of a partial government shutdown.

“We have come to an agreement with Congressional leaders on a path forward for the remaining full-year funding bills. The House and Senate are now working to finalize a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately,” said President Joe Biden in a statement released by the White House.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have made similar announcements. The funding levels for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had been an ongoing source of disagreement, but a deal has been reached, the details of which have not been revealed. The DHS is responsible for the border, which has become a major campaign issue ahead of the November presidential election. Republicans recently rejected a bill that would have allocated more than $20 billion to combat illegal immigration.

Congress approved the first package of spending laws in early March, securing funding for about 30% of the government. Now they are focusing on a broader package, and still need to draft and vote on laws that fund the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies.

Members of Congress have until midnight on Friday to draft the rules and approve the package with the pending items. The Republican Party’s internal rules require a minimum of 72 hours to consider the text of a bill before voting on it, although its leaders have bypassed this when necessary.

“House and Senate committees have begun drafting bill text to be prepared for release and consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible,” Johnson said.

The United States does not have one spending law but a dozen of them, and it is systemically unable to approve them in time for the start of the fiscal year, on October 1. The last time it did so on time was in 1997. The usual routine involves approving stopgap bills while the laws that enable the year’s spending are processed, which usually follows a cumbersome and complex procedure full of amendments.

Congress has been approving successive extensions. The first of them cost then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job. Curiously, his successor, Mike Johnson, has agreed to similar measures that have had even less support from Republicans, yet he was not ousted like McCarthy.

Aid for Ukraine was left out of the spending extensions on each occasion. The bill that Biden drafted and which included aid for Ukraine and Israel, among others, remains stuck in Congress.

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