Let’s start the clock anew: The federal government runs out of money in 85 days.
The House and Senate easily cleared a short-term spending bill Wednesday, kicking the contentious debate over federal spending to the lame-duck session of Congress.
Most importantly, that’s well beyond the November elections, which will have a huge impact on what happens next. Lawmakers aren’t scheduled to be back in Washington until Nov. 12.
The House passed the CR package 341-82, followed by the Senate approving it 78-18.
This comes after a particularly abysmal appropriations season, in which the House passed five of 12 spending bills but on party-line votes. The Senate Appropriations Committee reached bipartisan agreements on 11 of the 12 bills, yet none of them made it to the floor.
Lofty promises to return to regular order on the appropriations process were made all year — and abandoned. For example, Speaker Mike Johnson, who famously declared that he was “done with short-term CRs” shortly after taking the job, passed a short-term CR on Wednesday.
Johnson made a new promise Wednesday after passing the bill — he won’t allow an omnibus spending bill to pass in the lame-duck session of Congress:
But Johnson is going to be under a tremendous amount of pressure in the lame-duck session — not least from appropriators, defense hawks, Democrats and the White House, all of whom will want a global spending deal to complete work on the FY2025 bill. He’ll have to extend the farm bill and push through the must-pass defense authorization bill.
All this will take place against a possible change in control of the House, Senate and White House.
Republican leadership elections for the House and Senate will be held during the lame-duck session. Johnson is already starting to lay the groundwork for another term as speaker if Republicans keep the House. If they don’t, a full-on struggle for control of the House GOP Conference is likely.
The Louisiana Republicans say “continuity” will be “very important” to ensure Trump has a successful year. Johnson refuses to entertain the idea that Republicans may lose the House.
– Jake Sherman
