U.S. Congress races to avert Christmas government shutdown

by Frankie TAGGART

U.S. lawmakers scrambled Friday to reach an agreement on funding federal agencies through the New Year to avert a damaging government shutdown due to begin in just seven days.

Out of time to finalize a full-year package for the 2025 fiscal year, the parties look set instead to pass a stopgap patch known as a "continuing resolution" (CR) to keep services running on static budgets for the coming months.

Text of the bill is expected over the weekend or early next week to allow both chambers to get the agreement to President Joe Biden's desk before lawmakers leave town for the Christmas holidays.

Funding the government is often a contentious and chaotic affair as it requires the parties to agree on budgets that are subject to a 60-vote threshold in the closely divided 100-member Senate.

Failing to do so would mean the lights going out across government starting from December 20, with thousands of workers being sent home without pay and all sorts of government operations and services being hit, from airport security to national parks and border controls.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have yet to strike an agreement even on overall spending levels, let alone on how to distribute the money across the government.

While a shutdown isn't on anyone's Christmas wish list, there is disagreement about how long a short-term deal should last and concern on both sides about the text being jammed with controversial legislative extras -- known as "poison pill" amendments.

"The only way we prevent a shutdown is through bipartisan cooperation, without any last-minute poison pills that only create controversy," Schumer said in a statement.

"We can't have that. It has never worked in the past, and adding poison pills at the 11th hour would only make the risk of a Christmas shutdown greater."

- High stakes -

Johnson is reportedly eyeing a CR until mid-to-late-March, allowing Trump to put his stamp on federal spending soon after his party takes control of the House, Senate and the White House in January.

But that would bog down Congress early in Trump's presidency, taking valuable time from confirming his cabinet appointments through the Senate and advancing his policy priorities.

Republicans plan their headline initiatives to be tough border security reforms and the second act of Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered corporate and business levies while making temporary cuts to individual bills.

One sticking point has been federal disaster relief funding, with President Biden proposing tens of billions to help victims of two brutal hurricanes and other crises, but with conservatives pushing for a smaller sum.

Senate Democrats hold 51 seats for now, although the Republicans take over with 53 seats when the new session starts next month.

The stakes are particularly high for Johnson, whose bid to retain the House speaker's gavel in a January vote will be imperiled if he annoys even a small number of his backbenchers with a deal they oppose.

"In principle, we don't like continuing resolutions. But in this case -- as a Republican, as a conservative -- it does make the most sense," Johnson told Fox News.

"And that's why all the conservative groups are in favor of that idea -- because it allows us to make more of these key decisions in the new year, when we have the new Congress, new president, new Senate and House."

© Agence France-Presse