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<http://apnews.com>
Congress passes short-term spending bill that averts a government shutdown
| AP News
MARY CLARE JALONICK, KEVIN FREKING

January 18, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress sent President Joe Biden a short-term spending
bill on Thursday that would avert a looming partial government shutdown
and fund federal agencies into March.

The House approved the measure by a vote of 314-108, with opposition
coming mostly from the more conservative members of the Republican
conference. Shortly before the vote, the House Freedom Caucus announced it "strongly opposes" the measure because it would facilitate more spending
than they support.

Nevertheless, about half of Republicans joined with Democrats in passing
the third stopgap funding measure in recent months. The action came a few
hours after the Senate had voted overwhelmingly to pass the bill by a vote
of 77-18.

The measure extends current spending levels and buys time for the two
chambers to work out their differences over full-year spending bills for
the fiscal year that began in October.

The temporary measure will run to March 1 for some federal agencies. Their funds were set to run out Friday. It extends the remainder of government operations to March 8.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would
sign the resolution and urged Republicans to quit wasting time on partisan spending bills.

"House Republicans must finally do their job and work across the aisle to
pass full-year funding bills that deliver for the American people and
address urgent domestic and national security priorities by passing the President's supplemental request," Jean-Pierre said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been under pressure from his right flank
to scrap a $1.66 trillion budget price tag he reached with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier this month for the spending bills. Rep. Chip
Roy, R-Texas, said the continuing resolution passed Thursday will
facilitate that agreement, and urged colleagues to vote against it.

"It's Groundhog Day in the House chamber all the time, every day, yet
again spending money we don't have," Roy said.

Johnson has insisted he will stick with the deal, and centrists in the
party have stood behind him. They say that changing course now would be
going back on his word and would weaken the speaker in future
negotiations.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations
Committee, said Americans expect Congress to govern and work in a
bipartisan fashion.

"Some of my colleagues would see that this government would shut down and
don't care how hurtful that would be," DeLauro said.

House Republicans have fought bitterly over budget levels and policy since taking the majority at the start of 2023. Former House Speaker Kevin
McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted by his caucus in October after striking an agreement with Democrats to extend current spending the first time.
Johnson has also come under criticism as he has wrestled with how to
appease his members and avoid a government shutdown in an election year.

"We just needed a little more time on the calendar to do it and now that's where we are," Johnson said Tuesday about the decision to extend federal funding yet again. "We're not going to get everything we want."

Most House Republicans have so far refrained from saying that Johnson's
job is in danger. But a revolt of even a handful of Republicans could
endanger his position in the narrowly divided House.

Virginia Rep. Bob Good, one of eight Republicans who voted to oust
McCarthy, has been pushing Johnson to reconsider the deal with Schumer.

"If your opponent in negotiation knows that you fear the consequence of
not reaching an agreement more than they fear the consequence of not
reaching an agreement, you will lose every time," Good said this week.

Other Republicans acknowledge Johnson is in a tough spot. "The speaker was dealt with the hand he was dealt," said Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, noting
the constraints imposed by the party's slim majority.

In Thursday afternoon's vote, 107 House Republicans voted to keep federal agencies funded and 106 voted against the measure. To almost lose the
majority of his conference underscores the challenges facing the new
speaker and signals the difficulty he will have in striking a deal that
will not alienate many of his GOP colleagues. They are clamoring for
deeper non-defense spending cuts and myriad conservative policy mandates.

Meanwhile, 207 Democrats voted for the resolution and only two voted
against.

The short-term measure comes amid negotiations on a separate spending
package that would provide wartime dollars to Ukraine and Israel and
strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson is also under
pressure from the right not to accept a deal that is any weaker than a House-passed border measure that has no Democratic support.

Johnson, Schumer and other congressional leaders and committee heads
visited the White House on Wednesday to discuss that spending legislation. Johnson used the meeting to push for stronger border security measures
while Biden and Democrats detailed Ukraine's security needs as it
continues to fight Russia.

Biden has requested a $110 billion package for the wartime spending and
border security.
___

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Lisa Mascaro and Darlene
Superville contributed to this report.





--
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Anyone that isn't confused doesn't really
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~Edward R. Murrow USA WWII Correspondent ==================================================

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