WASHINGTON (CN) — The race to avert a government shutdown is on this week, as the Senate returns to Washington to tackle the federal budget in what is sure to be bitter debate over federal spending levels.
Congress has just weeks to pass a dozen spending bills that, if made law, would fund government agencies and programs for the 2024 fiscal year. As it stands, appropriations for 2023 are set to expire Sept. 30. If lawmakers fail to reach some sort of budget agreement before the end of the month, it will trigger a government shutdown — a dramatic fiscal contraction that could see thousands of federal employees furloughed and government programs hobbled.
While the Senate gets back to work this week, the House will have even less time to get its appropriations in order: The lower chamber won’t resume its legislative session until Sept. 12.
Despite the rapidly closing fiscal window, lawmakers appear far from any sort of bipartisan consensus on the budget.
Congressional Republicans have for months railed on what they say is reckless spending by the Biden administration and have already made overtures aimed at coercing the White House into budget concessions. The GOP in May attempted to work spending cuts into negotiations over the federal debt ceiling, a tactic which resulted in a weekslong standoff as lawmakers flirted with a first-ever national default.
Now, some Republican lawmakers are positioning the upcoming budget fight as another opportunity to pare down the Biden administration’s spending plan.
“We need to control the runaway spending by this administration,” said Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, pointing to recent projections that the federal budget deficit will balloon to $2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year.
“The budget fight this month is the time to do it,” the lawmaker said Sunday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Calls for a more austere spending plan come as some of the GOP’s more rightwing members are railing against the idea of a stopgap measure that would avert a government shutdown if Congress can’t reach an agreement by the end of the month.
The House Freedom Caucus in August said it would not support such a short-term budget patch, known as a continuing resolution, without some major caveats. The 45-member voting bloc said in a statement that passing a “clean” resolution — which would temporarily freeze government spending at 2023 levels without any amendments — would affirm the Biden administration’s current budget, which they argue was “grossly increased” from 2022 levels.
“As Congress continues to work to pass appropriations bills, we must rein in the reckless inflationary spending and the out-of-control federal bureaucracy it funds,” the Freedom Caucus wrote in an Aug. 21 press release.
The rightwing bloc said its members would only support a stopgap spending bill if the legislation advanced several GOP policy objectives, including language from a House-passed border security bill. The Freedom Caucus would also vote against any budget patch that includes funding for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, the bloc said.
If it keeps up its demands, the Freedom Caucus could prove an effective roadblock to passing the 12 appropriations bills awaiting a vote in the House, where Republicans control a narrow majority. The voting bloc has already demonstrated its willingness to throw its weight against GOP leadership: In May, Freedom Caucus members ground votes to a halt on the House floor to protest Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling compromise with the White House.
Democrats meanwhile sought to paint Republicans as recklessly pushing Washington towards a shutdown.
“President Biden and House Dems are building a healthy economy that works for everyday Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday in a post on X.
The New York Democrat argued that GOP lawmakers and Freedom Caucus members, like Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, are hoping to see a shutdown take place.
“They are too extreme to ever be trusted,” Jeffries said.
As Congress grapples with partisan gamesmanship, health issues among GOP leadership in both the House and Senate could also put spending negotiations in further jeopardy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is facing fresh scrutiny after he appeared to freeze for a second time in two months during a press conference in his home state of Kentucky last week.
McConnell had a similar incident during a July media availability at the Capitol, during which he was unable to answer questions from reporters and was ushered away by colleagues before returning minutes later.
The minority leader’s office has said that his incidents were brought on by “lightheadedness,” a residual side effect from a concussion he sustained after a fall in March. Brian Monahan, the congressional attending physician, informed McConnell in a letter Tuesday that a neurological evaluation presented “no evidence that you have a seizure disorder” or that the Republican leader was experiencing the effects of a stroke or Parkinson’s disease.
McConnell, 81, is expected to speak on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon.
In the House, Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise announced last week that he is undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
The Louisiana Republican said in a statement Aug. 29 that the disease was detected early and is treatable. “I expect to work through this period and intend to return to Washington,” the lawmaker said.
Follow @BenjaminSWeiss
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