In voting last week, Congress managed to fund the half of government it had not already. For some highlights of the bill and other congressional matters, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

Interview Transcript: 

Tom Temin  So, they did get the government funded six months almost into the fiscal year.

Mitchell Miller Yes. Not without a lot of drama, which is usually the case around here. But among the many things that are included in this legislation is a new requirement related to telework. It’s going to require the Office of Management and Budget to submit all agencies their return to office action plans within 90 days after this is actually signed into law. Agencies are going to have to provide more information on their telework policies. The average number of employees working in the office during a two-week period. And as you well know, it’s been nearly a year since OMB called on federal agencies to return staff to the office at least 50% of the time. The action also looks for workforce factors, including productivity and employee engagement. Ways to measure these type of things. So, this has been part of this effort of lawmakers to push to try to get these federal agencies and federal workers back into their offices.

Tom Temin Yeah, in some ways, then the Republicans, which are in favor of more return to the office, are oddly aligned with the white House on that particular matter.

Mitchell Miller Yeah, that’s right, because the white House has also been pushing these agencies to do more. So there really is kind of a coalition here. You know, the some of the federal unions, as you know, have been pushing back on some of the things that have been done. Others have been a little more amenable. But clearly, this push, again, related to telework is going to keep happening.

Tom Temin And the IRS funding that it originally was promised for the ten years seems to be shrinking.

Mitchell Miller Right. So, there was a huge amount of billions of dollars going to the FBI. And now Congress is giving it a bit of a haircut, in fact, quite a significant haircut of about $20 billion. This is money that was going to go to an over the years modernization series of funds to the IRS to try to get them to upgrade all of their computer equipment and a variety of record keeping. And, the agency still has about $60 billion under this modernization plan, but this was considered a victory for Republicans to cut back on some of that and then a much smaller amount of money, but certainly significant to our area. There is more money going to the FBI headquarters, which is going to be built in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Maryland delegation securing $200 million to go toward, projects related to that. That’s on top of 375 million that was appropriated the previous year. Lawmakers say that there’s about $1.5 billion in the pipeline now for these for this new headquarters. So still a long way away from, that first spade going into the dirt. But also, Virginia lawmakers are trying to reverse this decision. They were, of course, competing for another site in Northern Virginia. They are really touting a GSA inspector general’s investigation that is ongoing. However, I think it’s pretty unlikely at this point, given all the talk about this and new headquarters, whether this is actually going to be reversed.

Tom Temin Yeah, $200 million this year. That’ll just about cover the environmental impact studies, maybe then putting up a little fence around the property. I wanted to also ask you about the pay raises. Those seem to have gotten solidified for federal employees and service members in there.

Mitchell Miller Right. So, this is, of course, a big one. And it’s related in part to the inflation. There’s a 5.2% pay increase for military personnel, also the same amount, for federal government employees. So pretty significant bump there in this major omnibus bill. However, as we look ahead to 2025, the white House has proposed a pay raise of only about 2%. And as you know, that has caused some complaints from many of the federal employees’ unions. But for now, there will be this more than 5% pay hike coming.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Mitchell Miller, Capitol Hill correspondent for WTOP. And of course, now Congress is going to be leaving for a couple of weeks of recess. But there is the 2025 budget proposal. Anyway, that came out a couple of weeks ago from the white House. Any action on that? What are they going to do next there?

Mitchell Miller Right. Well, they have started to kick off some hearings related to that. And there is a lot of discussion about, the proposals. Of course, it’s 7 trillion plus dollars, from the white House. That starting point to get the discussion going. And then this past week, Republicans also released their own proposal for fiscal 2025. And the one that thing that’s really getting a lot of attention, not surprisingly, during this political year is a GOP proposal to raise the age for Social Security. They are recommending that it be bumped up from the current 67. But being a political year, they didn’t say what that would actually be. But as you might imagine, a lot of, congressional Democrats are jumping on that, saying that that Republicans want to cut back or to make it longer for you to actually get your Social Security. So, I think that will be a big talking point moving ahead. But some of these hearings now are moving forward. Finally, as we have completed work on 2024’s fiscal year, close to six months after it was supposed to be approved.

Tom Temin Yeah. And that idea of some sort of form of Social Security reform probably comes on the fact that the CBO itself reported that for the next ten years, there’s going to be trillion plus dollar deficits. And it’s not driven by what Congress appropriates to operate the government, but by CMS, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security spending and interest on the debt, which is growing.

Mitchell Miller Right. And there’s been a handful of lawmakers from both parties who have been warning about this for years, but it always seems to be taken over by what some people call the politics of today, that whatever is happening now, they just want to push it down the line. And that is going to come at some point. And a lot of the people that have also been warning about the federal budget deficit have been pointing to this as well. However, there just doesn’t seem to be the political courage to move forward with anything specific on this.

Tom Temin And what can we expect on Ukraine aid, Israel aid? This is all kind of in limbo at this point, right?

Mitchell Miller House speaker Mike Johnson has been very coy on this. He’s basically been trying to put everything on the shelf until everything was finally completed with the federal budget process, which was obviously an ordeal as we just discussed. One possibility is that Ukraine aid and Israel aid might come up in separate proposals in the House and then specifically related to Ukraine. One of the measures that’s getting a lot of attention right now, or at least being floated as a trial balloon, is providing it as partly a loan to Ukraine. This is got a lot of support from Republicans. Democrats are still kind of feeling it out. Former President Trump has indicated that he likes that. And of course, a lot of House Republicans go along with what he wants. So, they are kind of discussing whether or not that might happen. Keep in mind that the bulk of aid for Ukraine would actually be going back to replenish military equipment here in the U.S., and that would only be a fraction that would actually go specifically to Ukraine without any strings attached. But there are lawmakers who now want to attach those strings, and then we’ll have to see separately what happens for Israel, because there’s a big push there as well.

Tom Temin Yeah, well, it was Franklin Roosevelt that started Lend-Lease. So, there’s some precedent for this in the in the recesses of history. And just a final question about the state of security on Capitol Hill itself, lawmakers starting to get concerned about their own personal safety.

Mitchell Miller Right. There was a hearing last week that was very interesting. There’s been a lot of talk from House Republicans about crime citywide in D.C., but this really focused in on what’s been happening around this Capitol complex and in the blocks that extend nearby. And there’s been a lot of high-profile situations where a lawmaker was carjacked just a few blocks from here. There have been staffers who have been held up at gunpoint. Another lawmaker was assaulted. And so there has been real concern about what is happening along the blocks around the U.S. Capitol. And some are saying are, you know, tourists or people that come to D.C., are they going to be safe? And during this hearing, it was acknowledged by the U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, that that stepped up criminal activity has actually caused his officers to have to push out several blocks away from the Capitol to help Metropolitan Police here in DC to deal with these issues. And while crime overall in D.C. has gone down, there are areas around Capitol Hill including robberies and stolen cars are continuing to uptick. So, a lot of concern about that around here. Now, on the other side, Chief Manger did point out that in the Capitol complex itself, the crime rate is very, very low and it is obviously very, very well protected. But keep in mind, there are thousands of staff members that come in back and forth, not to mention all of the visitors that come to the Capitol in this whole area every day. So, it is a concern that’s got the attention of lawmakers, for sure.

The post Roundup of what just happened in Congress for 2024 first appeared on Federal News Network.

“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a statement. “But it rejects extreme cuts from House Republicans and expands access to child care, invests in cancer research, funds mental health and substance use care, advances American leadership abroad, and provides resources to secure the border. … That’s good news for the American people.”

It took lawmakers six months into the current budget year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term spending bills to keep agencies funded.

The White House said Biden signed the legislation at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was spending the weekend. It had cleared the Senate by a 74-24 vote shortly after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight.

But the White House had sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing that the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the Democratic president would sign it Saturday.

The first package of full-year spending bills, which funded the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, among others, cleared Congress two weeks ago with just hours to spare before funding expired for those agencies. The second covered the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, as well as other aspects of general government.

When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, or financing the country’s rising debt.

On Ukraine aid, which Biden and his administration have argued was critical and necessary to help stop Russia’s invasion, the package provided $300 million under the defense spending umbrella. That funding is separate from a large assistance package for Ukraine and Israel that is bogged down on Capitol Hill.

Biden, in his statement, again pressed Congress to pass additional aid.

“The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests. And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement — the toughest and fairest reforms in decades — to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It’s time to get this done.”

A bipartisan border package collapsed last month when Republicans senators scuttled months of negotiations with Democrats on legislation intended to cut back record numbers of illegal border crossings.

To win over support from Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pointed to some of the spending increases secured for about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country. That’s about a 24% increase from current levels. Also, GOP leadership highlighted more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.

Democrats are boasting of a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. They also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.

The spending package largely tracks with an agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow Friday evening after Republicans and Democrats battled over proposed amendments to the bill. But shortly before midnight, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced a breakthrough.

“It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it,” Schumer said.

The House passed the legislation Friday morning by a vote of 286-134, narrowly gaining the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

The vote tally in the House reflected anger among Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote. Johnson brought the measure to the floor even though a majority of Republicans ended up voting against it. He said afterward that the bill “represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government.”

In sign of the conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., initiated an effort to oust Johnson as the House began the vote but held off on further action until the House returns in two weeks. It’s the same tool that was used last year to remove McCarthy.

The vote breakdown showed 101 Republicans voting for the bill and 112 voting against it. Meanwhile, 185 Democrats voted for the bill and 22 against.

___

Freking and Jalonick reported from Washington. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.

The post Biden signs $1.2 trillion funding package after Senate’s early-morning passage ended government shutdown threat first appeared on Federal News Network.

Democrats were able to swat back scores of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some wins, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.

This year’s spending bills were divided into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago, just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.

Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, a more than 3% increase from last year’s levels. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.

“Congress must now race to pass this package before government funding runs out this Friday,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Nondefense spending will be relatively flat compared with the prior year, though some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, are taking a hit, and many agencies will not see their budgets keep up with inflation.

When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and financing the country’s rising debt.

The House is expected to take the measure up first on Friday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., urged Republicans to vote for the measure, noting that more than 70% of the spending goes to defense.

“At at time when the world’s on fire, more than ever, we need to make sure that we are properly funding our nation’s defense and supporting our troops,” Scalise said.

Then it would move to the Senate where senators would have to agree on taking it up expeditiously to avoid a partial shutdown. Usually, such agreements include votes on proposed amendments to the bill.

Johnson described the bill as a serious commitment to strengthening national defense while expanding support for those serving in the military. The bill provides for a 5.2% pay increase for service members.

In promoting the bill, Republicans cited several ways it would help Israel. Most notably, they highlighted a prohibition on funding through March 2025 for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which is the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza.

Republicans are insisting on cutting off funding to the agency after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency were involved in the attack that Hamas conducted in Israel on Oct. 7.

But the prohibition does concern some lawmakers because many relief agencies say there is no way to replace its ability to deliver the humanitarian assistance that the United States and others are trying to send to Gaza, where one-quarter of the 2.3 million residents are starving.

Democrats emphasized that humanitarian assistance will increase globally though, by about $336.4 million.

Sen. Patty Murray, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also highlighted a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. Democrats also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.

“We defeated outlandish cuts that would have been a gut punch for American families and our economy,” said Murray, D-Wash.

She also said Democrats successfully fought off numerous policy measures, known as riders, that House Republicans were seeking to add.

“From Day 1 of this process, I said there would be no extreme, far-right riders to restrict women’s reproductive freedoms — and there aren’t, she said.

Among the policy provisions that House Republicans did secure was a requirement that only allows for the American flag and “other official flags” to fly over U.S. diplomatic facilities. Under the Biden administration, U.S. embassies have been invited to fly the pride flag or light up with rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQ community.

There is also a provision that prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves. But the White House has said President Joe Biden would not support a ban, and the commission, an independent agency, says no such ban was in the works.

The spending in the bill largely tracks with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers Thursday that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save taxpayers about $1 trillion over the coming decade.

McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted from the speaker’s role a few months after securing the debt ceiling deal. Eight Republicans ended up joining with Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker. And some of those unhappy with that deal also expressed misgivings about the latest package.

“I hope there will be some modest wins. Unfortunately, I don’t expect that we will get much in the way of significant policy wins based on past history and based on our unwillingness to use any kind of leverage to force policy wins, meaning a willingness to walk away and say no,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.

Work on the spending bills has been more bipartisan in the Senate. Murray issued a joint statement after the bill’s release with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urging colleagues to vote for it.

“There is zero need for a shutdown or chaos — and members of Congress should waste no time in passing these six bills, which will greatly benefit every state in America and reflect important priorities of many senators,” Murray and Collins said.

Johnson said that after the spending package passes, the House would next turn its attention to a bill that focuses on aiding Ukraine and Israel, though lawmakers are scheduled to be away from Washington for the next two weeks. The Senate has already approved a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Johnson has declined to bring that up for a vote.

The post Congress unveils $1.2 trillion plan to avert government shutdown and bring budget fight to a close first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Congressional Budget Office recently advised Congress that unless full-year appropriations for 2024 get enacted by April 30, the White House might be obligated to initiate sequestration. You know, those “limits” on spending. But the shutdown deadline for six big agencies occurs this Friday. To find out how contractors are preparing, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talked with Stephanie Kostro, the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Professional Services Council.

Interview Transcript: 

Tom Temin  Why April 30th when appropriations could run out this Friday at midnight?

Stephanie Kostro It’s a great question. The Congressional Budget Office responds to requests from members of Congress regarding budget implications of legislation that has either been passed or is that under consideration? And they put together this memo back in January. They too then talked about April 30th and unpacking that a little bit. If you go back to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which helped us avert, you know, avoid a debt ceiling issue, it also set caps for FY 24 and FY 25 funding. What it also did was say that if you don’t have the full year appropriations bills, and there are 12 of them passed by April 30th, you will trigger sequestration of 1%. Now that is a significant amount for some agencies. For example, the Department of Defense. And so, everyone is looking at April 30th as the hey, we’ve got to get out of this continuing resolution do loop and into full year appropriations so that we can avoid that. What the March 13th CBO memo did was lay out the different scenarios of what happens if we are under a continuing resolution versus what happens if we are under full year appropriations. And that’s what makes it interesting.

Tom Temin I means there’s a little bit more pressure on Congress if they care. I mean, some members of Congress would like the 1% sequestration to occur. Will that pressure them to do something this week? We thought it would be passed last week. The remaining six departmental bills.

Stephanie Kostro Well, Tom, you will remember that we entered 2024 under a Laddered C.R., which is to say, some of the four of the appropriations bills under a CR were going to expire earlier than the remaining eight. What Congress did earlier this month was passed what we were jokingly calling a half-bus. You know, we’ve got omnibuses which cover everything. Cromni-buses is where some of them are under CR and some of them are under regular appropriations. This half-bus actually passed six of the 12 full year appropriations bills. But in many cases, these were the low hanging fruit. This was Veterans Affairs, Transportation, HUD, interior. Ag(riculture) was a little bit, controversial only because there was an increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. But that half-bus was relatively non-controversial. The remaining six are more controversial. It’s Department of Defense, it’s Department, Homeland Security and border security, etc.. And so, we’re looking to have those bills passed by the March 22nd deadline, which of course is later this week. What happens under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. And I’m just going to call it the FRA. What happens under the FRA if you are under a continuing resolution until April 30th, it will require sequestration for Defense, about 1%. The non-defense agencies are underspending here and in fiscal year 24, and their CR funding is actually below the level set, by the FRA. So, under sequestration, Defense does take quite a big hit. And so, we’ve got lots of people in industry, particularly the defense industry, going, hey, how can we prepare? What can we do? How can we talk to Congress about the importance of getting this done? There are also, of course, any time a CR runs out under the looming threat of a shutdown. And we were also talking to member companies about that.

Tom Temin And we’re speaking with Stephanie Kostro, executive vice president for policy at the Professional Services Council. Probably you would need to point out to your members that 1% across the board or whatever. That doesn’t mean the department is going to make a 1% cut on every line item. For example, they’ve got pay increases coming next year, they’ve got fuel and rent and things. So therefore, there’s not a lot of places they can necessarily cut evenly. So, it might fall disproportionately on contracting dollars in some cases.

Stephanie Kostro That’s exactly right. You know when they talked about sequestration just generally it is about a salami slice across the board. Everybody gets cut the same amount. But we know historically that they do try to protect military personnel pay and benefits, etc.. So, it is contractors who bear the brunt of sequestration. We learned that more than ten years ago when we underwent this, a similar situation. And as we look forward, you know, we are encouraging our contractors who are members of PFC and even those who aren’t, to go ahead and start talking to their contracting officers. One statement I made earlier in our discussion here, Tom, is some of these FRA, I guess hooks are already being felt in the Department of Defense, and we saw that in what they submitted for their FY 25 budget request just again earlier this month. That budget request is a straight line for things like artificial intelligence. A high priority for the Department of Defense. But they are not increasing funding because they don’t want to, quote unquote, bust the caps that are set by the FRA. And so, we are seeing real world translations of the FRA into what the Department of Defense is submitting. Another area is space. They are not necessarily increasing to the extent they want to because of the downward pressure from the legislation that was passed last year.

Tom Temin And they’re also slowing down or spreading out acquisitions of major platforms like submarines and ships in the request for 2025. The result being flow down of the slowdown to the thousands and thousands of subcontractors.

Stephanie Kostro That’s true as well, Tom. You know, we’ve heard from senior defense officials in the last few weeks about how they would like us as industry to invest in things like shipyards. But unfortunately, when you spread out the funding for these major platforms, there’s not a financial incentive to actually invest in shipyards and keep them running until those large platforms come through or large ship classes come through. We are talking with Department of Defense officials about what it means to spread things out that way, what it means for investments that companies are willing to make because they think there is a large probability that either things are going to fulfill themselves the way the department wants them to, or something can get sidetracked in the in the coming years. And so, we are working very closely with our member companies about how to talk to department about that.

Tom Temin Yeah, there’s a dissonance between the demand signals that the Defense Department would like to be able to communicate to industry, to foster that dip in investments in the DIB both services and things, contractors. But what they’re actually getting for appropriations means they can’t.

Stephanie Kostro That’s true. That’s true. And there’s a similar dynamic over on the civilian agency side. If we take ourselves out of the Department of Defense for a moment, many of them, because of that half-bus have their full year appropriation. But as we move forward, if everybody gets their full year approved appropriation, they might actually be cut going forward because some of them are overspending. So, this goes back to your question about how to apply a sequestration order across the board. Again, some programs are going to lose out more than others. And if you look at that Congressional Budget Office memo, they lay it out pretty clearly about what cuts may be coming under a CR, a continuing resolution or under full year appropriations. And so, I encourage everyone out there, if they’re interested, to look up that memo and check out to see where defense agencies fall and where non-defense agencies fall.

Tom Temin I guess in the ideal world, they could get their work done this week for 2024. And then, golly, they’ve got six months to write 12 appropriations bills and negotiate them. I don’t know what better things they have to do, but that would seem like a good priority.

Stephanie Kostro I think it’s fair to say if you’re a betting person, you are not going to bet that we will have full year appropriations for fiscal year 25 as of October 1st. Just history tells us that’s not going to happen. But also in a presidential election year, with a lot of Senate and House seats up in the air, I suspect we’re going to start 25 with a CR. And I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that.

The post Sequestration’s head pops up, for a peek at continuing budget uncertainty first appeared on Federal News Network.

Six months into the fiscal year, Congress is about halfway home in passing spending measures expected to total about $1.65 trillion. Lawmakers passed the first portion of spending bills in early March, funding about 30% of the government. Now lawmakers are focused on the larger package, and in what has become routine, are brushing up against the deadline when federal funding expires.

Agreement had been reached on five of the six spending bills that make up the second package, but negotiators clashed over the measure that provides funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for securing and managing U.S. borders, among other things. A person familiar with the negotiations but not authorized to discuss them publicly said late Monday that a deal had been reached on the Homeland Security spending. The breakthrough sets the stage for Congress to dodge a partial shutdown.

The stakes for both sides are immense as border security emerges as a central issue in the 2024 campaigns and the flow of migrants crossing the southern border far outpaces the capacity of the U.S. immigration system to deal with it.

Negotiators had been moving toward a simple solution: passing a continuing resolution that would mostly extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security, though with some increase from 2023 spending levels.

But a senior Republican aide said House Republicans pushed for more resources for the border than the continuing resolution would have provided. The White House also eventually rejected the continuing resolution approach but didn’t make that clear in communications with congressional allies until the “11th hour,” the aide said, increasing the risk of a short-term shutdown.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday declined to speak to timelines during the negotiations but emphasized that funding the government is lawmakers’ responsibility.

“It is their job to keep the government open,” she said.

Drilling down more specifically on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, she said the Biden administration has “maximized their operations” and removed more people in the past 10 months than during any year since fiscal year 2013. She said it was important to continue “that operational pace.”

“Obviously, we believe DHS needs additional funding. We’ve always said that,” Jean-Pierre said.

Even with the possible release of legislative text early this week, it’s unclear whether Congress can avoid a brief partial shutdown. House rules call for giving lawmakers 72 hours to review a bill before voting. House Speaker Mike Johnson will then likely have to bring the bill up through a streamlined process requiring two-thirds support to pass.

Most of the “no” votes are expected to come from Republicans, who have been critical of the overall spending levels as well as the lack of policy mandates sought by some conservatives, such as restricting abortion access, eliminating diversity and inclusion programs within federal agencies, and banning gender-affirming care.

Then, the Senate would act on the bill, but it would require all senators to agree on speeding up the process to get to a final vote before the midnight Friday deadline. Such agreements generally require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to allow for votes on various amendments to the bill in return for an expedited final vote.

The package being finalized this week is expected to provide about $886 billion for the Pentagon. The bill will also fund the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and others.

Overall, the two spending packages provide about a 3% boost for defense, while keeping nondefense spending roughly flat with the year before. That’s in keeping with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

House Republicans have been determined to end the practice of packaging all 12 annual spending bills into one massive bill called an omnibus. They managed this time to break the spending bills into two parts.

___

Associated Press staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

The post Negotiators race to finish government funding bills after reaching deal on Homeland Security bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

Nothing happened over the weekend in Congress, as a Friday deadline is still looming. Departs that need funding include: Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor and the Defense. To find out what is ahead for the week, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government Deputy News Director Loren Duggan.

Interview Transcript: 

Tom Temin  So, what’s ahead for this week? Again, that deadline is Friday at midnight. Here’s Bloomberg Government Deputy News director Loren Duggan. And I guess we were expecting something to happen last Friday or over the weekend. What went wrong? Or did they just go skiing or something?

Loren Duggan Well, they were talking most of the weekend, and the holdup will be a familiar one to your listeners. The border and immigration policy has once again come into the debate and slowed down attempts to reach a deal on an important piece of legislation. Last week, there had been talk about maybe punting questions about the Homeland Security Department just doing a continuing resolution for that as part of this larger bill that would fund those agencies that you mentioned. But here we are this morning looking for bill text and not seeing it. And that will complicate efforts to keep the government open past Friday night when that all important midnight deadline hits.

Tom Temin Yes, I guess for the Republicans that want to tie the two together, this is their last chance in a sense. So, they didn’t get it. That’s kind of their version of border control and immigration policy in the first round of deadlines a couple weeks ago. So, this is this is their star they have to hitch to it sounds like.

Loren Duggan At least the next one, because there obviously is another government funding deadline coming at September 30th. And there’s still this open question about what to do with the Ukraine and Israel aid packages. But when it comes to this bill, there is a deadline and there is a request from the Biden administration for some more money. And it sounded like over the weekend it was about a $1.5 billion infusion. They were looking for Republicans have push back on the characterization of their, of their reaction to that. But what we’re talking about here is some more money, really, for the ICE agents and CBP agents that are dealing with this border crisis. And Democrats say if they don’t get more money, it’s not going to make the situation any better. And they have pointed to concerns, their concerns that Republicans are just trying to slow down action and keep things a little chaotic down at the border. But I think we’re going to hear a lot of that rhetoric around this, and we’ll be waiting to see what the final bill actually does whenever we see it.

Tom Temin Right. And the Defense Department is still hanging in the balance here, and there’s no chance they would separate Health and Human services and Defense.

Loren Duggan Right. And that was sort of this idea that maybe we have the bills through September 30th for the other five of the spending measures and then maybe do a stopgap for DHS. But that idea that was floated last week doesn’t seem to have taken hold. But you’re right, Defense Department, it’s the largest single appropriations bill. We already have the defense authorization bill, which sets policy, but this is the actual money. And then there’s the labor HHS education bill, another major one, funding three of the big social agencies that Democrats in particular want to pour a lot of funding into. So, I think we could see five plus a CR, but we’ll have to see how this shakes out as the week continues.

Tom Temin But it’s fair to say this is going to be their top-of-mind thing that they do in this coming week.

Loren Duggan Absolutely. Averting a shutdown before a two-week break is definitely going to be their top priority.

Tom Temin Then what’s kind of strange about this is that the one budget is lapping the other, with the administration having released kind of a talk about a wish list that is in the president’s proposal coming out. When will Congress take that one up? If they will?

Loren Duggan They’re going to do the early part of it this week. They’re having some key hearings with the Energy secretary and the HHS secretary, Treasury secretary, and the OMB director to review this document and go through, I hate to say, go through the motions, but at least go through the tradition of bringing cabinet agencies and department agencies up to defend what the president has proposed. I think we are unlikely to see any fast action on this, especially with the two-week break coming up. But appropriators do have to kind of pivot pretty soon here to start writing the bills and get them through their subcommittees and committees, because they do want to have some sort of progress made before they leave in September for the election. I think we’re definitely heading towards a continuing resolution at some point and maybe dealing with these questions later in the year, but you want to lay down your markers at some point, to kind of guide that process.

Tom Temin Yeah. So with a detailed administration budget proposal out what they’re saying to the American public anyway, and to all of the federal employees that watch this stuff carefully to see if their agencies will be funded or they cannot possibly get 12 appropriations bills hammered out in six months, is what they’re saying, pretty much.

Loren Duggan I mean, we’re sitting here on March 18th and still dealing with the bills that should have been signed by September 30th if the process was followed to the regular order. And clearly it hasn’t been. So, the one thing we have going for us this year is we do have a topline number in effect for fiscal 2025. They had agreed to that last year. The question is, are they going to have a side deal for how much they can spend around that or stick some more money in there? That’ll be the question. But there are some things that point to it being easier. But, you know, past history also has to be taken into account.

Tom Temin And what about the foreign policy aid front? Israel, Ukraine and so forth? Where does that line now that they’re getting this close to the deadline and they’ve got the immigration thing looming.

Loren Duggan That is a separate issue. So, they can deal with the six regular spending bills, whether it’s full year or CR, this week, and then come back to Ukraine and Israel. There is pressure to get that done, leaving for a two-week break, given the conditions of war that are going on in both those places, is making some people uncomfortable. There are these discharge petitions to try to force action. Neither one of those has enough support yet. So, we’ll see if there’s any movement on the part of the speaker who on Friday sounded like maybe he was open to a vote at some point. I don’t know if we’ll see that before the spring break, but that will be, I think, the next issue down for, for lawmakers certainly is dealing with that.

Tom Temin And it’s hard to tell which is worse climate wise or weather wise, winter or summer. And the House is looking at energy and energy policy this week.

Loren Duggan That’s right. They came out of their GOP policy retreat at the Greenbrier with this energy agenda. And it’s about stopping Biden from imposing a fracking ban, repealing some of the programs that Democrats put in place last year around emissions, also saying a carbon tax would be a bad idea. So, it’s kind of this package of GOP anti Biden energy policies that they’re going to advance over the course of the week while they wait to vote on that spending bill and get that done. But it’s certainly when you’re heading to spring break and travel is on people’s minds. It’s one of those things they’re trying to ring the bell on before they head for the hills.

Tom Temin In the Senate. There are some nominees going on to.

Loren Duggan Yeah, they’re continuing to process in particular right now judicial nominees trying to get those through, continue to, you know, tally up the numbers of Biden nominees that get through. And then committees will also be looking at some nominees, including for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. There’s a trio of nominees going for their hearing this week. So, behind the scenes that nominations, sausage making continues to happen as people are brought before committees and then sent to the floor.

Tom Temin Yes. Because, you know, this is the time when pretty soon, some of the first term appointees, whether there’s a second term or not, nobody knows this is when there’s could be a lot of turnovers at that level. So, we could see some vacancies at the top because of the nomination process. And then the confirmation process. That could be a year of agencies having no confirmed head.

Loren Duggan That’s right. And we have the Labor Department, which has had an acting secretary for a long time, Julie Sue, who was nominated to be the secretary. But it hasn’t advanced. And then Marcia Fudge, who’s at HUD, said last week that she would be stepping down. So, you’re beginning to see that churn start of people who’ve been here three years and change and are maybe ready to move on before the election.

Tom Temin And by the way, I’ve lost count. But there are still a couple of recent resignations. What is the balance? Democrats and Republicans right now in the House look like it’s.

Loren Duggan 219 to 212. I want to say it’ll be 218 Republicans at the end of the week because Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican who had already retired, he’s stepping away. But now we’re seeing special elections happen that will fill some of those gaps. But it’s just up and down that will be continuing to watch. Because when you get very narrow, any two people or three people can band together with Democrats and stop what Republicans want to do. So that margin is very important.

The post Newest Capitol Hill activity and keeping the government funded first appeared on Federal News Network.

The measure contains six annual spending bills and had already passed the House. In signing it into law, Biden thanked leaders and negotiators from both parties in both chambers for their work, which the White House said will mean that agencies “may continue their normal operations.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded by a March 22 deadline.

“To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after lawmakers passed the measure Friday night just hours before a deadline.

He said the bill’s passage would allow for the hiring of more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, give federal firefighters a raise and boost support for homeless veterans, among other things.

The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 75-22. Lawmakers sought votes on several amendments and wanted to have their say on the bill and other priorities during debate on the floor. It had been unclear midday if senators would be able to avert a short shutdown, though eventual passage was never really in doubt.

“I would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the top-ranking Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It would be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have of funding government. What is more important?”

The votes came more than five months into the current budget year after congressional leaders relied on a series of stopgap bills to keep federal agencies funded for a few more weeks or months at a time while they struggled to reach agreement on full-year spending.

In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.

Republicans were able to keep non-defense spending relatively flat compared with the previous year. Supporters say that’s progress in an era when annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion have become the norm. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories.

The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and the second one still being negotiated.

Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. They were also able to fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year.

Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.

Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans, though opponents of the move said it could make it easier for those with very serious mental health conditions like dementia to obtain a firearm.

”This isn’t the package I would have written on my own,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said one problem he sees with the bill is that there was too much compromise, and that led to too much spending.

“A lot of people don’t understand this,” he said. “They think there is no cooperation in Washington and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill.”

“It’s compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans,” he added.

Still, with a divided Congress and a Democratic-led White House, any bill that doesn’t have buy-in from members of both political parties stands no chance of passage.

The bill also includes more than 6,600 projects requested by individual lawmakers with a price tag of about $12.7 billion. The projects attracted criticism from some Republican members, though members from both parties broadly participated in requesting them on behalf of their states and congressional districts. Paul called the spending “sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars, because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors.”

But an effort by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, to strip out the projects mustered only 32 votes with 64 against. Murray said Scott’s effort would overrule “all the hard work, all the input we asked everyone to provide us about projects that would help their constituents.”

Even though lawmakers find themselves passing spending bills five months into the budget year, Republicans are framing the process as improved nonetheless because they broke the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown. Still, others said that breaking up funding into two chunks of legislation war hardly a breakthrough.

The first package covers the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation, among others.

The post Biden signs package of spending bills just hours before government shutdown deadline first appeared on Federal News Network.

The measure contains six annual spending bills and has already passed the House. It now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Meanwhile, lawmakers are negotiating a second package of six bills, including defense, in an effort to have all federal agencies fully funded by a March 22 deadline.

“To folks who worry that divided government means nothing ever gets done, this bipartisan package says otherwise,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY.

He said the bill’s passage would allow for the hiring of more air traffic controllers and rail safety inspectors, give federal firefighters a raise and boost support for homeless veterans, among other things.

The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 75-22. The chamber labored to get to a final vote just hours before the midnight deadline for the first set of appropriations bills. Lawmakers sought votes on several amendments and wanted to have their say on the bill and other priorities during debate on the floor. It was unclear midday if senators would be able to avert a short shutdown, though eventual passage was never really in doubt.

“I would urge my colleagues to stop playing with fire here,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the top-ranking Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It would be irresponsible for us not to clear these bills and do the fundamental job that we have of funding government. What is more important?”

The votes this week come more than five months into the current fiscal year after congressional leaders relied on a series of stopgap bills to keep federal agencies funded for a few more weeks or months at a time while they struggled to reach agreement on full-year spending.

In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.

Republicans were able to keep non-defense spending relatively flat compared to the previous year. Supporters say that’s progress in an era when annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion have become the norm. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories.

The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and the second one still being negotiated.

Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. They were also able to fully fund a nutrition program for low-income women, infants and children, providing about $7 billion for what is known as the WIC program. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year.

Republicans were able to achieve some policy wins, however. One provision, for example, will prevent the sale of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. Another policy mandate prohibits the Justice Department from investigating parents who exercise free speech at local school board meetings.

Another provision strengthens gun rights for certain veterans, though opponents of the move said it could make it easier for those with very serious mental health conditions like dementia to obtain a firearm.

”This isn’t the package I would have written on my own,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But I am proud that we have protected absolutely vital funding that the American people rely on in their daily lives.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said one problem he sees with the bill is that there was too much compromise, and that led to too much spending.

“A lot of people don’t understand this. They think there is no cooperation in Washington and the opposite is true. There is compromise every day on every spending bill,” Paul said.

“It’s compromise between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans,” he added.

Still, with a divided Congress and a Democratic-led White House, any bill that doesn’t have buy-in from members of both political parties stands no chance of passage.

The bill also includes more than 6,600 projects requested by individual lawmakers with a price tag of about $12.7 billion. The projects attracted criticism from some Republican members, though members from both parties broadly participated in requesting them on behalf of their states and congressional districts. Paul called the spending “sort of the grease that eases in billions and trillions of other dollars, because you get people to buy into the total package by giving them a little bit of pork for their town, a little bit of pork for their donors.”

But an effort by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, to strip out the projects mustered only 32 votes with 64 against. Murray said Scott’s effort would overrule “all the hard work, all the input we asked everyone to provide us about projects that would help their constituents.”

Even though lawmakers find themselves passing spending bills five months into the fiscal year, Republicans are framing the process as improved nonetheless because they broke the cycle of passing all the spending bills in one massive package that lawmakers have little time to study before being asked to vote on it or risk a government shutdown. Still, others said that breaking up funding into two chunks of legislation war hardly a breakthrough.

The first package now making its way to Biden’s desk covers the departments of Justice, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation, among others.

The post Congress passes first package of spending bills just hours before shutdown deadline for key agencies first appeared on Federal News Network.

It is not what contractors or most federal employees wanted, but Congress did manage to avoid a partial government shutdown last week. They only pushed the deadline out a week or two, in order to buy time to consider budget bills. For the outlook on the week ahead, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government Deputy News Director Loren Duggan.

Interview Transcript:  

Tom Temin  And, Loren, before all of this, of course, we have been going back and forth with the fact that the bills are out there and some of them have been negotiated by some committees and some chambers. What does it look like now?

Loren Duggan So, like you mentioned, we kicked one of the deadlines from March 1st to March 8th, giving them a week to wrap up a package of bills. On Sunday, they released six bills as a one package. So, they’ll take one vote on. And that will be before the House and Senate this week and try to meet that Friday night deadline to avoid that partial shutdown. What had been set to expire March 8th will now expire March 22nd. So, we have a couple of more weeks to go on. The other six bills that are needed to fund the rest of the government. So, there’s progress being made real full year funding packages available for members to vote on, and you have to mark that as some form of progress, given what we’ve been going through till now.

Tom Temin Because so many bills seem to have been agreed to by leadership and so on. And I’m thinking of aid to Ukraine, but it dies, you know, because of the split of the Republican Party in the House. Is that likely to happen this time or we actually pass stuff?

Loren Duggan This looks like a classic compromise where Republicans got a few things they wanted. Democrats got some things they wanted, and they are all talking about the elements of the bill that are wins for them. So, I think we’ll see a bipartisan vote for it. That doesn’t mean that everyone will be supporting it, though. There will probably be a significant Republican opposition to this. But they’re using a two thirds majority threshold in the House, and they’re going to have to get there with a combination of Republicans and Democrats.

Tom Temin And what do we know about the bill? Any of the particulars being coming into view at this point with respect to how much for which agency?

Loren Duggan Yeah, I mean, there’s a pretty good you know, it’s a $436 billion package, about 26% of the total, according to our team. That’s quite some of the numbers. And it’s going to fund the Agriculture Department, Commerce, justice, energy, interior, VA transit. There’s some pretty big chunks of the government there across those six bills. There’s a boost for the WIC program, which was a big win for Democrats. There’s a boost for VA medical health care of things like that. But there are some cuts. For example, the Republicans touted a 6% cut to the FBI. And, you know, another small cut, but at least a cut to some of the Amtrak programs that they wanted to see, some adjustments may to. So, there are some puts and takes in this in a classic kind of compromise. But overall, it will get these six bills and the agencies under them going for the rest of the year.

Tom Temin And with respect to what was appropriated eventually for 2023, is it up, down or about level?

Loren Duggan The overall deal has a little bit of a boost, but, you know, defense kind of went up in a direction that most people felt comfortable with. It’s going to have more non-defense spending than Republicans would like. But, perhaps, you know, less than the administration would have liked in its budget request for fiscal 2024, the year we’re in now. We’re quickly going to be turning to the 2025 request. But, in this case, you know, again, I think I’ve said it a couple times, it’s like classic compromise where you don’t get everything you want, but you get a good chunk.

Tom Temin Yeah. Usually, the administrations and administrations by tradition, is supposed to be out with its next year request yet. But I imagine this administration, like so many in recent years, will not be on time.

Loren Duggan Yeah, we’re looking at a March 11th release for that about a week from now. So right in the middle of these two spending package is going to be really hard to compare. But we’ll do our best, obviously, when that document hits our hands.

Tom Temin And so, again, to reiterate, the vote this week would be on those things that were to expire last week. But they are still yet to vote on those that would be expiring on the eighth at the end of this week.

Loren Duggan The things that are expiring are a mix of bills that had an originally that March 1st and March 8th deadline. Those six will be taken care of. The other six will expire March 22nd at this rate, causing a 23rd shutdown. But they’re working to get those bills done. Although defense is in there, homeland security, which is particularly tricky right now with the border and funding the agencies that operate there. So, I think a significant amount of work remains to be done on those, but they’ll take the win on this one to try to get it through the House and the Senate and go on with some other things.

Tom Temin And you said there was a slight cut to the FBI. What about their new headquarters? Is there any funding for that in there? I mean, that’s still not quite resolved thoroughly where it is they’re going to relocate to.

Loren Duggan Right. I don’t think that’s been I don’t think they’re going to get the boost that perhaps they hoped for, for that. But there is some construction funding in there, as I understand it.

Tom Temin All right. And so, what’s the schedule look like for taking up those things that the expiration is now the 22nd.

Loren Duggan So we’ll be waiting to see that waiting for them to finalize and release those bills. You know, Congress likes a deadline. So maybe we won’t see that for another week or two. This is going to be a busy week just processing this first package. But appropriators are already turning towards that other one.

Tom Temin And they have published the bills that they’re going to be voting on. So, if someone wanted to start digging through the numbers. The numbers, agency by agency, are in there.

Loren Duggan They are. It’s about a thousand plus pages of bill text, and then a lot of other materials that you really need to look at to understand what’s in there. Yeah.

Tom Temin Is there a lot of policy in there. Do we know or is it simply the spending, the appropriations to back up what have been an authorizing bill earlier?

Loren Duggan There’re a few spending provisions of or I’m sorry, policy provisions of note. DEI riders that the Republicans that wanted most of those fell out. There is a rider in there to limit how the VA shares information with the gun registry, which had been a big sticking point, something they were working on. And then other provisions like that. But it’s all those writers that Republicans had put in the bills they wrote in committee. A lot of those fell out over the course of this process.

Tom Temin So they fell out. And these were desired by the more conservative end of the Republican Party. Are we going to have the same speaker in the next couple of weeks as we’ve had to this point heretofore?

Loren Duggan I mean, that only takes one person to force that vote. We’ll have to see. I mean, there’s a lot they want to get done. And with these other spending bills, Ukraine and other agenda items. So, that’s on a lot of minds, to be sure.

Tom Temin And you mentioned Homeland Security will be in that second tranche of bills for those things that expire on the 22nd of March. Homeland Security has been under a lot of Republican fire, the impeachment vote. So that one could be a little tough, couldn’t it?

Loren Duggan I think that’s the toughest one that’s outstanding at labor, HHS, education, a lot of social funding, tough to. But definitely those border politics that have held up the Ukraine bill are going to bleed over into that package as well. And it’ll be a tough one to wrap up. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the last thing they’re working on.

Tom Temin But it’ll be a little bit happier on the Hill at least this week.

Loren Duggan This week is busy too. The President’s up there Thursday for State of the Union. There’s elections that people are watching. So should be a busy, interesting, maybe happier week. We’ll see.

The post What will happen now that Congress bought itself a week or two on the budget? first appeared on Federal News Network.

• With the shutdown clock resetting on Friday, Senate lawmakers got working over the weekend. House and Senate appropriations committee members agreed on a package of six funding bills on Sunday, as a key first step to moving some agencies off of a continuing resolution. The minibus bill includes 2024 spending plans for the departments of Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs. Many of these agencies are, once again, facing a lapse in appropriations on Saturday. The bills still must be approved by both houses of Congress before March 9, both of which return to work on Tuesday afternoon.
  (Senate, House appropriations committees agree to 6 funding bills - Senate Appropriations Committee)
• The General Services Administration’s top IT official said GSA made some honest mistakes when it purchased more than a hundred cameras made in China. Chief Information Officer David Shive concedes GSA should have done a better job documenting its requirements when it bought 150 Chinese-manufactured video conferencing cameras in 2022. But Shive disputes that GSA violated the Trade Agreements Act, because the purchase came under the $183,000 threshold. GSA’s inspector general said the purchase violated the TAA because GSA intended to buy more of the cameras after an initial pilot program. Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee called the situation a troubling episode.
  (GSA CIO, IG spar over purchase of China-made video conferencing cameras - Federal News Network)
• The Marine Corps’ top officer might be back on the job in the next several weeks. Gen. Eric Smith has been sidelined since late October, when he had a heart attack near his home at the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington. Defense officials told the Associated Press that Smith was briefly in the Pentagon on Friday and he will return to his status as the Commandant of the Marine Corps after doctors clear him for duty. Smith underwent surgery to repair a heart valve in January.
  (Marine general taking steps to return to full duty as commandant several months after heart attack - Associated Press)
• Agencies are on the hunt for better Freedom of Information Act technology. The Justice Department and the National Archives will team up to host the NextGen FOIA Tech Showcase on May 14 and 15. The goal is to identify technologies, including artificial intelligence, that can help agencies with FOIA case processing and backlog challenges. Initial submissions to participate in the FOIA showcase are due by March 29.
  (2024 FOIA Technology Showcase: Request for Information Published on SAM.gov - National Archives)
• The Senate has confirmed, by a voice vote, Adm. Samuel Paparo to the post of commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Paparo will replace Adm. John Aquilino, who is retiring this spring. During his confirmation hearing, Paparo pledged to address gaps in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. He also pledged to improve airfields, sea ports and warehousing to decrease logistics vulnerabilities. Paparo currently leads the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was nominated for the new role last August.
  (Senate confirms Paparo to lead INDOPAYCOM - Senate Armed Services Committee)
• Federal investors found mostly positive news in February's Thrift Savings Plan returns. After a disappointing start to the year, most funds posted positive returns in January. The small cap stock index S fund led the positive news with a 6% return, bouncing back from last month's negative showing. The fixed income F fund continued to post negative returns in February, resuming a two-month slide. The common stock C fund continues the good news, with more than 30% growth for the last 12 months, while all Lifecycle funds remained positive.
  (TSP returns for February bring investors mostly positive news - Federal News Network)
• Around for decades, the hard-copy version of the PLUM Book is one step closer to its demise. The book identifies some 9,000 presidentially-appointed and other positions within the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management issued data collection requirements, data standards and other guidance for agencies to update their information on its new website. OPM launched the new PLUM Book portal last December. Through the website, OPM requires agencies to list every position that is appointed by the President, Senate-confirmed and a part of the Senior Executive Service. OPM said agencies should update their positions at least annually, detailing 11 different elements including pay plan, geographical location and any vacant positions.
  (Guidance on Listing Updates to PLUM Reporting - CHCO Council)
• The Defense Information Systems Agency has awarded Palantir a $9.8 million Other Transaction Agreement for joint electromagnetic spectrum operations. Over the next 12 months, the agency’s Program Executive Office for Spectrum will work with U.S. Strategic Command, the operational sponsor, and Palantir to deliver a planning tool that can automate operational electromagnetic spectrum planning processes. The Pentagon said it is looking to increase interoperability between combatant commands, joint task forces and the military components that make up those joint groups.
  (DISA awards OTA to develop prototype decision support - DISA)
• The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee is asking the Government Accountability Office for a “full assessment” on how the IRS can use artificial intelligence to meet its missions. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said he is looking for ways to balance AI's efficiencies against the downsides. One of them, he said, is the fact that oversight bodies like Congress cannot quite tell how AI models are weighing various factors in their decision making.
  (Senior House Democrat requests assessment on AI opportunities and risks - Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.))

The post Lawmakers’ weekend effort delivers six funding bills, as government shutdown fuse sizzles first appeared on Federal News Network.

The short-term extension is the fourth in recent months, and many lawmakers expect it to be the last for the current fiscal year. House Speaker Mike Johnson said negotiators had completed six of the annual spending bills that fund federal agencies and had “almost final agreement on the others.”

“We’ll get the job done,” Johnson said as he exited a closed-door meeting with Republican colleagues.

The House acted first Thursday. The vote to approve the extension was 320-99. It easily cleared the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Democrats overwhelmingly voted to avert a partial shutdown. But the vote was much more divided with Republicans, 113 in support and 97 against.

The Senate then took up the bill and approved it during an evening vote of 77-13.

“When we pass this bill, we will have, thank God, avoided a shutdown with all its harmful effects on the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said moments before the vote.

Biden called Thursday night’s vote “good news for the American people” but added, “I want to be clear: this is a short-term fix — not a long-term solution.”

Next week, the House and Senate are expected to take up a package of six spending bills and get them to the president before March 8. Then, lawmakers would work to fund the rest of the government by the new March 22 deadline.

At the end of the process, Congress is expected to have approved more than $1.6 trillion in spending for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. That amount is roughly in line with the previous fiscal year and is what former Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with the White House last year before eight disgruntled Republican lawmakers joined with Democrats a few months later and voted to oust him from the position.

Some of the House’s most conservative members wanted deeper cuts for non-defense programs than that agreement allowed through its spending caps. They also sought an array of policy changes that Democrats opposed. They were hoping the prospect of a shutdown could leverage more concessions.

“Last I checked, the Republicans actually have a majority in the House of Representatives, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at our checkbook because we are all too willing to continue the policy choices of Joe Biden and the spending levels of Nancy Pelosi,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

But Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., countered before the vote that shutdowns are damaging and encouraged lawmakers to vote for the short-term extension.

“I want the American people to know, Mr. Speaker, that this negotiation has been difficult, but to close the government down at a time like this would hurt people who should not be hurt,” Fleischmann said.

The split within the GOP conference on spending and their tiny House majority bogged down the efforts to get the bills passed on a timely basis. With the Senate also struggling to complete work on all 12 appropriations bills, lawmakers have resorted to a series of short-term measures to keep the government funded.

Republican leadership said that the broader funding legislation being teed up for votes in March would lead to spending cuts for many nondefense agencies. By dividing the spending bill up into chunks, they are hoping to avoid an omnibus bill — a massive, all-encompassing bill that lawmakers generally had little time to digest or understand before voting on it. Republicans vowed there would be no omnibus this time.

“When you take away Defense and Veterans Affairs, the rest of the agencies are going to be seeing spending cuts in many cases,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “There are also some policy changes that we pushed through the House that will be in the final product. Of course, some of those are still being negotiated.”

The temporary extension funds the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and others through March 8. It funds the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the State Department through March 22.

While congressional leaders have said they’ve reached final agreement on what will be in the first package of spending bills voted on next week, there’s still room for an impasse on the second package to be voted on later in the month.

“We are working in a divided government. That means to get anything done, we have to work together, in good faith to reach reasonable outcomes,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The renewed focus on this year’s spending bills doesn’t include the separate, $95.3 billion aid package that the Senate approved for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this month, with much of that money being spent in the U.S. to replenish America’s military arsenal. The bill also contained about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other war zones.

In his statement Thursday, Biden said, “It is time for House Republicans to put our national security first and move with urgency to get this bipartisan bill to my desk.”

Biden had summoned congressional leaders to the White House on Tuesday, during which he and others urged Johnson to also move forward with the aid package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the U.S. can’t afford to wait months to provide more military assistance to Ukraine, which is running short of the arms and ammunition necessary to repel Russia’s military invasion.

“We’ve got a lot of priorities before us, but we have to get the government funded and secure our border and then we’ll address everything else,” Johnson told reporters upon exiting his meeting with GOP colleagues.

Democrats urged quicker action on Ukraine as the temporary spending bill was debated.

“Without swift action, the legacy of this Congress will be the destruction of Ukraine, the appeasement of a dictator, and the abandonment of starving children and ailing families,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

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Under the new plan, Congress would temporarily fund one set of federal agencies through March 8 and another set through March 22. In the meantime, Congress will try to draft and pass packages of legislation to fund the government for the remainder of the budget year.

But there was no immediate plan to approve the $95 billion emergency national security funds for Ukraine, Israel and other allies.

“We are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government,” said the joint statement from House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with the Appropriation Committee leaders.

Johnson said the House would vote Thursday to approve the temporary funds — ahead of Friday’s deadline, when some federal monies run out. The Senate would be expected to vote next.

The deal comes together as negotiators in Congress have been working furiously to finish up a federal spending plan and Washington joined Ukraine and other American allies around the world in watching and waiting for Johnson’s next move.

The new Republican leader is facing the test of his career trying to keep the U.S. government open by Friday’s midnight deadline for several federal departments. At the same time, emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies remains stubbornly stalled. President Joe Biden convened leaders Tuesday in hopes of pushing them toward a deal.

“As the President and Congressional Leaders made clear at yesterday’s meeting, we cannot allow a government shutdown,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. She said the agreement reached would help prevent a “needless” federal shutdown.

Congress is in what has become a familiar cycle of threatened shutdowns and disruptions as hard-right Republicans in Johnson’s majority strive for steeper spending reductions than Democrats and even some other Republicans are willing to accept. This would be the fourth short-term funding extension in about five months.

While Johnson, R-La., inherited a difficult dynamic, it was only compounded after his majority shrunk further when Democrat Tom Suozzi of New York was sworn in Wednesday to boisterous applause from Democrats and visitors in the galleries following the special election to replace ousted GOP Rep. George Santos. The House is split 213-219, leaving Johnson no room for dissent.

Congressional leaders said they reached an agreement on six bills that will adhere to spending levels previously agreed to last year.

Those bills involve Veterans Affairs and the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and others and will be voted on and enacted before March 8.

The remaining six bills for the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the State Department still need to be finalized, voted on and enacted before March 22.

Leaders said a short-term extension would be voted on this week so that funding would continue for agencies while lawmakers worked on the two packages. Lawmakers would be given 72 hours to review the broader legislative packages, as is expected under House rules.

If the deal and the subsequent bills are approved, it would keep the federal government funded until the end of the budget year, on Sept. 30, and avoid more short-term measures.

Top military officials said at a Pentagon briefing that the delay in passing a 2024 budget has affected the military as it has responded to crises over the past several months without additional new money to do so.

Gabe Camarillo, the Army undersecretary, said that with continued funding delays, “we have some very significant costs that we’re going to have to overcome.”

Meanwhile, Western allies are keeping close tabs on Johnson to see whether he will consider Biden’s request for $95 billion in emergency funds for Ukraine and the overseas national security needs.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the $95 billion supplemental request earlier this month that includes $60 billion for Ukraine as its military runs short of munitions to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin. About half the Ukraine money would boost U.S. defense manufacturing as part of the war effort.

Biden hosted Schumer, Johnson, McConnell, R-Ky., and Jeffries, D-N.Y., in the Oval Office on Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The meeting was something of a pile-on as Johnson, who has endorsed Donald Trump in the Republican presidential race, was the only leader reluctant to help Ukraine as prioritizes a U.S.-Mexico border security deal despite rejecting an earlier proposal that collapsed. Biden pulled Johnson aside for a private conversation.

Biden told the lawmakers, “it’s Congress responsibility to fund the government.”

Without funding by Friday thousands of government employees could be furloughed and federal government offices and services temporarily shuttered or unavailable.

Biden warned that a government shutdown would damage the economy “significantly. We need a bipartisan solution.”

—-

Associated Press writers Tara Copp, Seung Min Kim and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

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This week, Congress is running up against a March 1 deadline for four appropriations bills:

• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
• Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
• Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act

Congress appears ready to once again punt the deadline and try to avoid a lapse in government funding. A new tentative continuing resolution, introduced in the House Wednesday evening, would push the deadlines for these appropriations bills and others to March 8 and March 22, respectively.

If Congress doesn’t reach an agreement by the end of Friday, agencies whose funding falls under these four bills will see a lapse in appropriations. During a government shutdown, agencies must categorize their employees to determine whether they’ll continue to work — and whether they’ll continue to get paid.

If a partial shutdown occurs this week, at least 158,000 federal employees will face furloughs, according to Federal News Network’s calculations. During a shutdown, furloughed employees have to stop working, and don’t get paid until the shutdown ends.

Federal News Network arrived at that estimate via our ongoing tally of how many federal employees at the affected agencies would be either “exempt” or “excepted.” Our regularly-updated dataset is drawn from the contingency plans agencies submit to the Office of Management and Budget. The remaining employees who don’t fall into the “exempt” or “excepted” categories would be furloughed.

The estimate is imperfect, and more complicated than meets the eye. That’s because the individual Congressional appropriations bills don’t always line up exactly along federal department boundaries. That’s that case, for example, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture: the Agriculture funding bill that’s set to lapse this week funds most of USDA, but not the more than 30,000 employees at the U.S. Forest Service. That agency happens to be funded by the Interior and Environment appropriation, so none of its employees would be affected by this particular partial shutdown.

Likewise, the Department of Energy is partially funded through the Energy and Water Development bill. But some of Energy’s employees are separately funded through the Defense appropriations bill, which has a later deadline in Congress.

As another example, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill would affect the Department of Veterans Affairs’ funding if Congress cannot reach an agreement. But as Federal News Network has shown, most employees at the Veterans Health Administration are considered “exempt” and therefore would continue working while still getting paid.

Our total attempts to account for all of those caveats, but it’s still just an estimate of how many federal employees may be furloughed if funding from the four appropriations bills were to lapse Friday.

The three categories during a shutdown

Federal employees who are considered either “exempt” or “excepted” fall into separate categories than those who get furloughed during a shutdown.

“Excepted” employees continue to work without pay during a shutdown. Although their salaries are funded through annual appropriations, they must stay on the job even with no funds available to pay them. These employees are guaranteed back pay once a shutdown ends.

“Exempt” employees work in positions that are financed through a funding source other than annual appropriations. That means a lapse in appropriations does not affect this group of employees, unless the alternate funding eventually runs out.

Furloughed employees during a government shutdown must stop working, and do not get paid until the shutdown ends.

According to Federal News Network’s calculations, more than 1.5 million feds would be considered either “exempt” or “excepted” from shutdown furloughs. That means roughly 65% of the overall federal civilian workforce would continue working through a full government shutdown, either with or without pay.

The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, which former President Donald Trump signed into law in 2019, covers both furloughed and excepted federal employees. It ensures they’ll receive retroactive pay during lapses in appropriations once a shutdown ends.

Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu contributed to this report.

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• The Thrift Savings Plan board said it is ready to pivot in the case of a government shutdown this Friday. TSP operations continue normally during a shutdown, but the TSP offers some relief to participants who are affected. During a shutdown, if TSP participants miss a loan payment, they do not get placed in a default loan status. And for any fed who gets furloughed during a shutdown, the TSP automatically pauses paycheck deductions for loans. If there is a shutdown, about 100,000 federal employees could be furloughed. Congress, of course, still has a couple days to come to a government-spending agreement.
  (February board meeting - Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
• A plan to roll back civil service protections would impact more federal employees than expected, according to the National Treasury Employees Union. The Trump administration planned to reclassify a large swath of federal employees who shape government policy, making them easier to fire. Former President Donald Trump said he’d bring those plans back if reelected. But new documents show the Office of Management and Budget also planned to reclassify lower-grade feds in HR, IT and other administrative positions. The NTEU, which obtained the documents, said more federal employees would fall under Schedule F than it previously estimated.
  (Schedule F plans show 'far higher' impact on federal workforce than first anticipated, NTEU warns - Federal News Network)
• Federal agencies have a role to play in a new effort to make sure the sensitive data of Americans is protected from foreign adversaries. President Joe Biden will sign an executive order today designed to safeguard sensitive U.S. data, like biometrics, personal health data and geolocation information. The Justice Department will issue regulations aimed at establishing clear protections for that data from being accessed by so-called countries of concern. And the departments of Health and Human Services, Defense and Veterans Affairs will be tasked with ensuring that federal grants, contracts and awards are not used to facilitate access to Americans’ sensitive data.
  (President Biden issues sweeping executive order to protect Americans’ sensitive personal data - White House)
• After getting direct-hire authority, agencies have even more help for AI hiring from the Office of Personnel Management. OPM’s latest guidance to agencies details how and when they can offer incentives to federal employees working in AI. In many cases, agencies already have the authority to give feds pay bonuses, telework opportunities and faster accrual of annual leave. Now OPM said those flexibilities, along with many others, should be extended to AI professionals. The guidance comes after President Biden signed an executive order telling agencies to start rapidly recruiting AI professionals to the federal workforce.
  ( Agencies should promote existing workplace flexibilities in federal AI hiring, OPM says - Federal News Network)
• The Army is cutting about 24,000 military positions, including about 3,000 positions from special operations forces, as it restructures itself for large scale combat operations. The service plans to get rid of positions that were created to support counterinsurgency efforts during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but are no longer needed given current strategic priorities. The cuts will not affect active-duty soldiers.
  (Army cutting jobs in major force structure transformation - U.S. Army)
• The Office of Personel Management and Office of Management and Budget have released a strategic plan to assist agencies with hiring and recruiting military-connected families. OPM has released the first-ever governmentwide military-connected strategic plan for fiscal 2024 to 2028. The plan will support agencies in recruiting, hiring and retaining military-connected families and caregivers. Agencies should identify barriers that prevent recruitment, hiring and retention of military-connected families within the federal workforce. Agencies are also encouraged to develop strategies and potential legislative proposals to address those barriers and promote employment opportunities. OPM will provide resources to support agencies in meeting the goals outlined in the plan.
  (OPM releases first-ever government-wide military-connected strategic plan - OPM)
• The Office of the Special Counsel has a new leader. The Senate yesterday confirmed Hampton Dellinger to be Special Counsel by a vote of 49 to 46. President Joe Biden nominated Dellinger in October. OSC has been without a leader since October, when Henry Kerner left after serving in the position for six years. Before coming to OSC, Dellinger served in the Justice Department as an assistant attorney general overseeing the Office of Legal Policy from October 2021 to June 2023.
  (Senate confirms OSC leader - U.S. Senate Majority Floor Updates on X)
• Big changes are coming to how the Defense Department measures its own cyber defenses. Instead of getting pass-fail inspections, commands can expect to see more nuanced assessments that try to measure how cyber risks affect their actual missions. The new process takes effect tomorrow and is called a Cyber Operational Readiness Assessment. It replaces the Command Cyber Readiness Inspection DoD has used for more than a decade.
  (DoD cyber readiness tests get a major overhaul - Federal News Network)
• The Biden administration has established a council of chief AI officers across the federal government. Austin Bonner, the deputy U.S. chief technology officer for policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said that it is one of the latest steps under a recent executive order on AI in government. “This is a really important place for federal leaders to come together, share best practices, and coordinate their work. Not every federal agency needs to reinvent the wheel," Bonner said. The Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to name a chief AI officer last fall and accelerate the adoption of AI tools within agencies.
  (OSTP’s Austin Bonner on ‘leading by example’ as agencies implement AI executive order - Federal News Network)
• The Energy Department is doling out $45 million for 16 new cybersecurity projects. The goal is to develop tools and technologies that can protect energy systems from cyber attacks. The Biden administration has warned U.S. critical infrastructure, including the electric grid, is increasingly being targeted by hackers. The funding for the energy cybersecurity projects comes from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
  (DOE announces $45 million to protect Americans from cyber threats and improve cybersecurity in America's energy sector - Energy Department)

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Biden called the leaders to the White House in hopes of making progress against a legislative logjam on Capitol Hill that has major ramifications not just for the U.S. but for the world as Ukraine struggles to repel Russia’s invasion with weapons and ammunition starting to run short.

“The need is urgent,” Biden said of the Ukraine aid. “The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire.”

Biden hosted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the Oval Office along with Republican House Speaker Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris. After the more than hour-long meeting, Biden pulled Johnson aside for a private conversation.

Democratic leaders upon exiting the meeting were blunt about the dangers Ukraine is facing.

“We said to the speaker, ‘get it done,” said Schumer. “I said I’ve been around here a long time, it’s maybe four or five times that history is looking over your shoulder and if you don’t do the right thing, whatever the immediate politics are, you will regret it.

Referring to Johnson, he said, “Really, it’s in his hands. It’s in his hands.”

Schumer, who was joined by Jeffries in describing how the meeting went, called the session “one of the most intense I’ve ever encountered” in the Oval Office.

Johnson spoke to reporters on his own, without Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell by his side. McConnell voted for a $95 billion foreign aid bill earlier this month that would aid Ukraine and Israel, replenish U.S. defense systems and provide humanitarian assistance for Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other populations caught in conflict zones. The bill passed the Senate 70-29, but the Republican-led House has not acted on it, despite pleas from McConnell and others for action.

Johnson, who rejected a U.S. Mexico border security compromise that was eventually stripped from the final product, signaled no change in his position on Ukraine aid. He said the Senate’s package “does nothing” to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, the GOP’s demand in return for helping Ukraine.

“The first priority of the country is our border, and making it secure,” Johnson said.

The speaker’s continued call for border changes has frustrated senators, who spent months negotiating a bipartisan border deal only to have House Republicans reject it at the urging of former President Donald Trump. The bill would have denied migrants the ability to apply for asylum at the border if the number of daily crossings became unmanageable for authorities, among other major changes.

“It’s time for action” Johnson said of the border. “It is a catastrophe, and it must stop.”

Schumer said Democrats, too, want to tackle the problems at the U.S-Mexico border, but that it will take time and “we have to do Ukraine right now.” He said he discussed during the meeting his visit last week to Ukraine with other lawmakers and recounted the agonizing stories told by soldiers who have no ammunition left to fire.

In the meeting, “we made it clear how vital this was to the United States. This was so, so important, and that we couldn’t afford to wait a month or two months or three months, because we would in all likelihood lose the war, NATO would be fractured at best, allies would turn away from the United States, and the boldest leaders, the boldest autocrats of the world … would be emboldened,” he said.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns also joined Tuesday’s meeting. Burns has played key roles coordinating the U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

McConnell upon returning from the meeting called on the House to take up the Senate-passed bill. Many supporters of the bill predict that it would pass overwhelmingly on the House floor if Johnson were to bring it up for a vote, but doing so would risk enormous blowback from some in his conference who don’t support any more help for Ukraine. Some have even threatened his job if he allows the bill to pass.

“We don’t want the Russians to win in Ukraine and so we have a time problem here. And the best way to move quickly and get the bill to the president would be for the House to take up the Senate bill,” McConnell said.

Apart from the national security package, government funding for agriculture, transportation, military construction and some veterans’ services expires Friday. And funding for the rest of the government, including the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, expires a week later, on March 8, the day after Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union address.

“It’s Congress responsibility to fund the government,” Biden said. “A government shutdown would damage the economy significantly. We need a bipartisan solution.”

The congressional leaders seemed more hopeful that they would be able to prevent any shutdown, though it may require another short-term extension to be passed this week.

“We are making real progress on the appropriations bills that are scheduled to lapse on March 1,” Jeffries said. “And I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do what is necessary within the next day or so to close down these bills and avoid a government shutdown.”

“We believe that we can get to agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown. And that’s our first responsibility,” Johnson said.

——

Associated Press reporters Stephen Groves and Will Weissert contributed.

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