Johnson and Schumer reach funding deal that fails to cut spending!
WASHINGTON (PNN) - January 7, 2024 - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Lou.) reached a deal on the federal budget on Sunday, and the agreement is already raising the ire of some fiscal conservatives, according to several reports.
The $1.6 trillion deal sets defense spending at about $886 billion for the current fiscal year, a number that the White House and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had reached while negotiating over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2023. The agreement will reportedly allow for $773 billion for spending not related to defense, a victory for Democrats that is already angering some members of the Republican caucus as the extended funding deadlines draw closer on the calendar.
Legislators now have 12 days to conduct further negotiations and lock in the final bill text, as available cash for numerous federal agencies will run out on Jan. 19. The funding for the military and several of the largest government programs will expire on Feb. 2. While Sunday’s breakthrough may reduce the chances of an eventual shutdown, a host of contentious issues, including potential reforms to address the crisis unfolding at the southern border, remain unresolved.
Beyond the border, questions still remain about the form that military aid packages to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan could take.
The Republican majority in the House is slim, which will fall to just one vote after Jan. 21, so Johnson can ill afford many defections from his caucus; Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas has already voiced his concerns, writing in a post on X that the proposed “topline in spending is terrible” and that “as usual, we keep spending more money we don’t have.” The deal reflects spending levels that are still significantly higher than what fiscal hawks in the Republican caucus have stated they would like to see.
In a Sunday letter to lawmakers, Johnson touted $16 billion in new spending reductions that he was able to win beyond what McCarthy was able to achieve during the debt ceiling fight, slicing $30 billion from funding bills drafted previously in the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kent.), meanwhile, wrote on X that he is “encouraged that the speaker and Democrat leaders have identified a path toward completing FY 2024 appropriations” because “Amerika faces serious national security challenges, and Congress must act quickly to deliver the full-year resources this moment requires.”
Beyond Roy, some members of the GOP caucus are apparently “pissed about this topline deal,” with some legislators reportedly peeved that they found out about the deal on social media and others highlighting that the deal is similar to the one that helped bring about McCarthy’s ouster at the hands of the House Freedom Caucus. One member reportedly told the outlet that the lawmakers who led the charge to remove McCarthy from his leadership position had “failed” to replace him with a more fiscally conservative alternative.
