Government Funding Fight Pushed to New Year

President Biden signed a temporary spending bill last week that will push a brewing fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has vowed not to support any more stopgap spending bills in the future. Johnson came up with a two-step approach to the spending measure passed last week: funding programs and agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development at current spending levels until Jan. 19, 2024, and pushing other spending measures, like funding for Ukraine and Israel and border security, to Feb. 2, 2024.

Johnson said the two-step CR “puts House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative policy victories,” in part by taking an end-of-year omnibus off the table.

The White House had sought an additional $106 billion supplemental aid package to fund military aid to Ukraine and Israel, along with international humanitarian aid. Republicans have opposed this package, calling instead for cuts targeting the IRS and stand-alone aid for Israel only.