By Frankie TAGGART
WASHINGTON, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – US lawmakers released a $1.2 trillion package in the early hours of Thursday to complete the 2024 federal budget — teeing off a sprint to sign it into law before a government shutdown looming at the weekend.
The six-bill, 1,012-page package represents the largest and most contentious section of federal funding, with cash running out at midnight on Friday night for three-quarters of the government, including defense and homeland security.
The Republican-led House of Representatives normally demands 72 hours to study legislation but lawmakers are expected to drop the requirement to vote Friday morning to send the deal to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Both chambers are expected to support the package, but a brief partial shutdown is still possible as the Senate can take days to approve legislation unless all its 100 members agree to a sped-up timeline.
“Congress must now race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday,” said Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate’s Democratic majority.
“Once the House acts, the Senate will need bipartisan cooperation to pass it before Friday’s deadline and avoid a shutdown.”
The funding fight came with both sides pushing their campaign messaging and priorities ahead of November’s presidential election, when Biden faces Republican challenger and former president Donald Trump.
The first quarter of the budget — six bills covering agriculture, science, veterans’ programs, transport and housing — passed without major drama last month.
Five of the six bills covering the rest of federal spending were straightforward, but disputes over the funding of homeland security delayed the release of the deal, originally expected last weekend.
Trump — who wants to run on Biden’s perceived weakness on immigration — pressured lawmakers earlier this year to kill a bipartisan border security bill, leaving homeland security funding as the alternative vehicle for policy changes.
The Republicans didn’t get any major victories, as the budget amounts essentially to a spending freeze.
But they were able to negotiate more border patrol agents, expanded migrant detention facilities, a $20 billion cut for tax enforcement, a six percent reduction to foreign aid, and a ban on diplomatic buildings from flying LGBTQ pride flags.
– ‘Policy wins’ –
“House Republicans have achieved significant conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts to wasteful agencies and programs while strengthening border security and national defense,” Speaker Mike Johnson said.
Democrats held out for more funding for pay equity for airport security staff and negotiated 12,000 visas for Afghans who helped the United States during the war.
They also won a $1 billion funding boost for child care, as well as climate change programs at the Pentagon.
Elsewhere, the two sides agreed on stopping US aid meant for the Palestinians being funneled through the UN Relief and Works Agency, after Israel alleged that a dozen employees were involved in the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
The hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus urged lawmakers to reject the deal before the text was released, arguing that it effectively locks in the Biden administration’s “open border” policies for another six months.
But a robust cross-party coalition is expected to secure the two-thirds majority the bill will need to advance to the Senate.
The upper chamber can move quickly with unanimous agreement to skip cumbersome procedural steps — but any individual member can gum up the works for a few days.
Although this would lead to a funding gap stretching into early next week, in reality the average American would see little effect from such a brief shutdown.
The budget for 2024 should have been completed nearly six months ago and there has not been a government shutdown this late in the fiscal year since it was redesigned in 1976 to start on October 1.
Patty Murray, the Senate Democrats’ point person on the budget, said her negotiators had defeated “outlandish cuts that would have been a gut punch for American families and our economy.”