Negotiations over a short-term funding patch are coming down to the wire as lawmakers have less than five days left to work out a deal – and pass it through both chambers of Congress – to avoid a government shutdown this weekend. 

What You Need To Know

  • Negotiations over a short-term funding patch are coming down to the wire as lawmakers have less than five days left to work out a deal – and pass it through both chambers of Congress – to avoid a government shutdown this weekend
  • Lawmakers kicked off the week without the text of a spending measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR, seeing the light of day – despite the Sunday before a funding deadline bringing the public release of such an agreement in the past
  • Top House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., expressed optimism to reporters on Monday that a deal is close to being completed, multiple outlets reported
  • Economic assistance for farmers as part of a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill became a hurdle to a final agreement over the weekend, according to reports

Lawmakers kicked off the week without the text of a spending measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR, seeing the light of day – despite the Sunday before a funding deadline bringing the public release of such an agreement in the past. 

Top House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., expressed optimism to reporters on Monday that a deal is close to being completed, multiple outlets reported. Scalise told Politico that such an agreement was “close to being finalized” while Tom told The Hill that talks were “moving in the right direction.”

But economic assistance for farmers as part of a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill became a hurdle to a final agreement over the weekend, according to reports. 

In a statement released on Saturday, the top Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry accused Republish leadership of rejecting a $10 billion proposal for an extension and proposing a move that would take away from disaster assistance. 

“Their eleventh-hour offer fell short of what farmers need, shortchanged critical farm bill programs, and steals from critically needed assistance to address recent natural disasters,” Georgia Rep. David Scott and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow wrote. “We can and should do both economic and disaster assistance, not pit one against the other.”

President Joe Biden asked Congress to designate about $100 billion for disaster assistance in the wake of Hurricanes Milton and Helene, which tore through the Southeast this fall. A continuing resolution is expected to allocate funds to help with recovery, but the dollar amount is unclear. 

Meanwhile, the Farm Bill, an omnibus agriculture policy bill intended to be enacted every five years that includes programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, originally expired last year. With no new agreement in sight, lawmakers passed a one-year extension that lasted until Sept. 2024. 

Lawmakers are tight on time to get a deal solidified in order for it to pass both chambers before the end-of-day on Friday deadline, particularly due to a rule in the current House that requires legislation to be released 72 hours before it is voted on to give members time to read. 

Any continuing resolution passed is expected to push the next deadline to pass a budget for the full year into March, when Republicans are set to control the White House and both chambers of Congress.