Congress strikes deal to avert government shutdown

Congressional leaders have struck a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded beyond a looming Dec. 20 shutdown deadline.

Legislation rolled out by leadership on Tuesday would kick the Friday funding deadline to March 14 to buy more time for the next Congress and incoming president to hash out how the government should be funded for much of next year.

The newly unveiled 1,500-page package also features a host of add-ons, including a one-year farm bill extension, roughly $100 billion in disaster relief, about $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, and other authorizations. 

The deal wraps up weeks of negotiations over disaster aid and overall funding — most recently, a clash over farm aid — and marks the last funding deal of a divided Congress before Washington welcomes its next class in January. 

Details of the deal had already begun to come into focus ahead of the release Tuesday, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) braced members for the major package, including the disaster relief for areas hard hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The bill covers nearly $30 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as officials have sounded alarm over the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund in recent months.

Lawmakers agreed on more than $2 billion in funding for the Small Business Administration after officials said its disaster loan program — which businesses and homeowners rely on for low-interest loans to recover from disasters — ran out of funds during hurricane season.

The bill also includes $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, with billions more in disaster relief for farmers.

Agricultural aid had emerged as a key sticking point in recent days, and the agreement came after some Republicans threatened to vote against the stopgap measure if it did not include economic assistance for farmers and ranchers.

The bill also includes 500 pages of health care provisions, including pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) industry reforms, extensions of Medicare telehealth flexibilities, reauthorizations of legislation to prevent pandemics and address the opioid crisis, payments to community health centers, a rollback of physician payment cuts. 

And it contains a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, as well as an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program’s authorization.

Overall, House GOP leadership said the designated emergency and disaster funding tacked onto the continuing resolution clocks in at about $110 billion with no offsets included.

“I'm always happy to look at any offsets we have and that we can pass, and so far, we haven't been able to get something to get the votes for them,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told The Hill on Tuesday when asked about past discussions around offsets.

Still, the lack of offsets is sure to upset conservatives who have called for any additional funding to be offset with savings elsewhere.

Johnson said the goal was for “a very simple, very clean” stopgap funding plan “to get us into next year when we have a unified government.” But he added that “acts of God,” such as hurricanes, required disaster aid and other additions to the package.

Other add-ons in the legislation also include the reauthorization of the Counter-Unmanned Aerial System program.

The add-ons in the bill, along with the delayed rollout, frustrated Republicans from all corners of the conference Tuesday as they awaited the text of the measure.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) complained it was akin to a year-end omnibus, which conservatives abhor. And Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, called it "a total dumpster fire."

“The appetite to risk shutting the government down is not there. This is the playbook that they’ve used for a long time, pretty successfully,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said after the party was briefed on the contents of the deal earlier Tuesday. 

“At some point we’re going to have to call them out on it,” Norman said.

The House is expected to move quickly on the legislation as both chambers face a serious time crunch to get the package across the finish line to avoid a shutdown before the holidays.

Johnson said earlier on Tuesday that the goal is to go “through regular process” for consideration of the text in the lower chamber. If he goes that route, the earliest lawmakers could vote on the text would be Friday under the House’s 72-hour rule — which would mean the Senate needs to act quickly before the Friday midnight funding deadline. 

Negotiators have expressed confidence in completing their funding work under the proposed three-month time frame, but some were hopeful of a shorter stopgap to put pressure on Congress to tie up spending sooner next year. Defense hawks have also raised concerns about what the funding freeze could mean for the Pentagon.

Some Republicans have also expressed concerns that putting off the bills further into next year could distract from other priorities the party hopes to tackle in President-elect Trump’s first months back in the Oval Office. 

The deal has attracted support from Democrats in both chambers.

House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said the bipartisan package will provide "communities across the country with critical relief, investing $100 billion to help Americans rebuild and recover."

She and other Democrats have also lauded a section of the bill they say would cover replacement costs for the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

“With the inclusion in the Continuing Resolution of our Baltimore BRIDGE Relief Act, Congress is now committed to covering the full cost of replacing the bridge. This will allow the bridge it to be built as quickly as possible," Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a joint statement on Tuesday. 

"Our provision also ensures that the federal taxpayers will be reimbursed through proceeds from insurance payments and litigation taken on by the Department of Justice, the Maryland Attorney General and others."

Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell and Nathaniel Weixel contributed. Updated at 7:30 p.m.