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The Democratic-controlled Senate, under the leadership of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), has only been able to approve three of the 12 appropriations bills as a result of the impending deadline for Congress to pass several spending bills that fund government agencies and programs.
That means there will be critical spending bills waiting for lawmakers when they return from their holiday recess, Fox News reported.
“In November, the Senate voted to extend funding through September 2024 for the Agriculture, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation bills. No funding bills have been considered since, even though the Appropriations Committee approved the 12 spending bills with mostly bipartisan support,” the outlet noted.
“The House also passed a temporary extension of last year’s government funding levels, but with two separate deadlines: Passing appropriations bills for military construction and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy and Water, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development by Jan. 19; the remaining eight appropriations bills must be worked out by Feb. 2,” Fox added, noting that the upper chamber also adopted the same staggered spending bill deadlines.
If lawmakers fail to meet the initial January 19 deadline, they will require a short-term continuing resolution (CR), serving as a temporary spending measure until September 30. In the event of failure, the Fiscal Responsibility Act would come into effect, triggering a 1% across-the-board cut of over $50 billion starting in April, Fox noted.
After the mini-omnibus vote, Schumer said, “The only way things get done in divided government is bipartisanship.”
“The American people won’t support the futile exercise of passing partisan, extremist legislation that has no chance of becoming law, which is what the House is doing right now,” he said at the time, Fox noted.
The House, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), has passed an appropriations bill that notably reduces the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) while urging the Department of the Interior to increase energy and mineral production on public lands. Nevertheless, Senate Democrats have indicated that the bill lacks adequate support in the upper chamber to pass.
“Their appropriations bills are loaded with poison pills that they know are not going to be accepted in this chamber or by Democrats in their chamber,” Schumer claimed.
Before the holiday recess, several GOP lawmakers voiced concerns about the lack of appropriation bills being presented on the floor. As of now, Schumer has not scheduled any votes on bills related to appropriations when the Senate reconvenes on January 8.
“The only thing you can come to conclusion is his goal is not to pass spending bills but to have an omnibus,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital ahead of the holiday recess.
One issue that has divided Democrats and Republicans regarding agreement on spending bills is the border. Republicans in the House, led by Speaker Johnson, are demanding that President Joe Biden to first use his executive authority to implement stricter enforcement measures after millions of migrants have been allowed to cross illegally into the country.
According to a letter reviewed by Axios last week, the Speaker said Biden must use his authority to halt the waves of migrants crossing illegally into the U.S. on a daily basis while overwhelming U.S. Border Patrol resources.
“We passed H.R. 2 more than six months ago, but Senate Democrats have refused to act on it,” Johnson writes, referencing Republicans’ tough border package. “While a bipartisan group of Senators has begun extensive negotiations over the past few weeks to try to find a compromise, they have not yet been able to finalize an agreement.”
Among the policies he recommended, Johnson said Biden should reimpose Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to stay south of the border while U.S. immigration courts adjudicated their cases.
