As the Senate adjourned for its summer recess, members of Congress were divided on a plan to fund the federal government beyond Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.
Both chambers of Congress must pass appropriations bills to fund the federal government after Sept. 30, when the 2025 fiscal year begins. Since March 23, when Congress completed the process for 2024 nearly six months late, the appropriations committees of the Senate and House of Representatives have separately drafted 12 spending bills funding different parts of the federal government—none of which have been passed by both chambers.
Congress remains divided on the contents of these bills and, similarly, divided on the terms of a “continuing resolution” to avert a shutdown and give itself more time to act.
“The whole appropriations process is broken,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a Senate Appropriations Committee member, told The Epoch Times.
Sen. LaPhonza Butler (D-Calif.) said the Senate is behind on doing its work.
“This fiscal year closes in two months. ... I’m not happy that we’re not on time,” she said.
When Congress reconvenes on Sept. 9, it will be in session for just 12 days, during which time both houses must either pass the same versions of all 12 bills or a temporary “continuing resolution” to fund the government.
One Senate bill, funding the Department of Homeland Security, was not marked up at all, owing to disagreements over funding for border security as well as for the Secret Service after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13.
The Secret Service, by law, is responsible for Trump’s protection and has faced bipartisan criticism since the incident.
“It’s just a complicated bill. We need some more time to finish the biggest issue: the Secret Service investment,” said Murphy, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. “It takes a little while to figure out the border funding, which we still have got some work to do ... but the Secret Service piece was the biggest unfinished piece.”
Many senators have called for greater funding for the Secret Service after the incident so it has more resources to secure protectees.
Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) speaks at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 18, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“[They’re] filled with poison pills,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
Internal division within the House Republican conference led to one remaining bill, funding the Legislative Branch, being defeated on the floor after several Republicans voted against it. It also prevented the other six remaining bills from being considered for fear of being defeated. The House canceled its business after July 25, which has been widely attributed to the division on appropriations.
“[There are] garbage amendments and things that are just funding a bunch of crazy stuff. That’s out of the context of what the original bill was supposed to be about,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), after voting against the Legislative Branch bill, told The Epoch Times.
Back on the Senate side, some are confident the 12 bills can receive a floor vote in the 12 days before Sept. 30, despite the narrow timeline.
“We'll have all those done before the end of the fiscal year,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.). “Regular order has to be proceeded and followed here,” Manchin said, referring to the standard process of both houses passing 12 bills before the deadline.
The last time Congress met that deadline was fiscal year 1997.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on July 23, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Topline Divisions
Democrats and Republicans are divided on not only the bills’ composition but also the total amount of funding to be allocated for the year, or the topline number. Each fiscal year, Congress sets a total discretionary spending limit that guides how appropriators allocate money.In the House, Republicans and Democrats are divided on whether to use that cap or a higher threshold of $1.68 trillion. The higher cap includes alleged “side deals” in 2023 between Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden during the FRA negotiations.
No evidence of these deals exists—they are not mentioned in the text of the FRA—though House Democrats insist they were made and are binding.
“We are not going to accept a dime less than the $1.681 [trillion] number that we all agreed upon,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told The Epoch Times on July 12. “The Republicans in the House right now are marking up appropriations bill[s] at $1.606 [trillion]. That means they are cutting $75 billion from their own agreement.”
Jeffries claims that the lower $1.61 trillion cap would “adversely impact the health, the safety, and the economic well-being of the American people; hurt children, hurt seniors, hurt veterans, and hurt many others. It’s unacceptable.”
House Republicans have dismissed the alleged side deals.
By contrast, the Senate has a bipartisan agreement—to break the FRA caps and spend more money for both defense and nondefense purposes.
“We have a good bipartisan agreement in the Senate which does go above last year’s [deal], to some extent, on both defense and nondefense. It’s something I would be supportive of,” Schumer told The Epoch Times.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks as Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) (L) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) look on at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 30, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
House Republicans, who have championed “fiscal responsibility,” are likely to oppose violating the FRA caps. It precludes an easy conferencing process.
“The Senate needs to get a grip. We’re going to have to cut spending, and the bills that we’ve passed have been reasonable,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wy.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Epoch Times. “I think we need to take a hard line on that.”
Divisions Over Continuing Resolution
If Congress cannot agree on full-length appropriations bills within the 12 days in session before Sept. 30, it will have to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown.CRs maintain funding for the government at levels set for the previous fiscal year and have typically lasted for several weeks. However, the CR’s possible time limit is causing divisions in Congress.
Historically, Republicans have opposed CRs in favor of regular appropriations bills, but many now say they want a CR that runs into 2025—in the hope that they take control of the Senate and the White House. Such an outcome would position them to make more conservative changes to appropriations bills.
“I'd rather [the CR] go clear into March in hopes that former President Trump wins the election and then has a chance to put his fingerprints on legislation,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wy.) told The Epoch Times.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) seconded this, saying it would “probably be a good idea.”
“I would at least pass a continuing resolution with the SAVE Act and go jam that down the Democrats’ throats,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the policy chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Epoch Times.
People vote at a polling location on Election Day in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 8, 2022. Some Republicans say that any continuing resolution should include the SAVE Act, a bill that requires proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he would also like to include the SAVE Act.
“My preference would be a CR with save with the SAVE Act,” Lummis said. “That would be my first choice.”
Other Republicans do not agree. “I would like a clean CR. That’s always the best way to go,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told the Epoch Times.
Democrats are unlikely to agree to the SAVE Act’s inclusion. Multiple congressional Democrats declined to tell The Epoch Times how long they wanted the CR to last.
Frustration with the appropriations process has grown during the 118th Congress due to divisions between the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate on issues in the process. Members complain that the current process make it impossible to complete the bills on time.
“This is the new normal: that we all accept a continuing resolution and [unfinished] appropriations bills at the end of the year. We’ve got to fix this process at some point,” Murphy said. “It’s really, increasingly impossible for us to get this work done.”
Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
