The Continuing Resolution (CR) that Congress passed in late September will fund the government through December 20th. With that deadline now looming, lawmakers will have to decide whether to pursue another stop-gap measure, and push back the final approval of FY 2025, or attempt to pass an omnibus spending bill to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated that he would prefer to pass another CR, likely funding the government through March of 2025. This would allow Republicans to exert greater control over the funding process, as they will hold majorities in both chambers in the 119th Congress. This move would have the added benefit of preventing the Speaker from having to strike a large budget deal with a Democratically -controlled Senate and the Biden Administration—a move likely to be unpopular with his conservative base—before the Speaker election in January. Johnson is expected to run again for Speaker in the 119th Congress.
Other lawmakers, however, have appeared reluctant to pass yet another CR. Top appropriators in the House and the Senate have voiced support for working to pass full FY 2025 spending bills before the end of the lame-duck session. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee come January, has said that it is “very much in the interest of the new administration” to resolve the budget now, thus avoiding a budget fight in the first 100 days of the new Trump Administration.
Defense hawks and Pentagon officials have also vocally opposed a CR, arguing that maintaining the current funding levels interferes with their ability to run programs effectively. Senator Rodger Wicker (R-MS), who will chair the Senate Armed Services Committee next year, has said that Congress needs to stop passing short-term measures “at all costs.”
Republican leadership have indicated that the preference of President-elect Trump will factor heavily into their decision, though they have not spoken publicly about their conversations with him. Time is running out to begin discussions of omnibus bills, making a CR more likely. If Congress indeed passes another CR, it moves all FY 2025 decisions into the third quarter of the fiscal year at the earliest, which will put pressure on agencies to execute decisions and spend final funding.
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