A deal for overall spending in 2024 has improved the outlook of avoiding the first of two government shutdown deadlines, with individual spending for the USDA and other key departments still to be completed.
The deal largely gives Democrats the domestic and defense spending levels President Biden and former House Speaker McCarthy agreed to last spring to suspend the debt ceiling. However, the deal also gives Republicans $20 billion in accelerated IRS cuts plus pandemic aid claw-backs and is $30 billion less overall than Senate spending bills.
House Speaker Mike Johnson mentioned the need for cuts in a speech last year.
That included USDA, which House Appropriators reduced by more than $7 billion and replaced with pandemic savings, but that ultimately failed over an abortion rider and cuts to farm and food programs. Some House conservatives call the new deal a “total failure” and could force Johnson to again rely on Democrat votes, which cost his predecessor his job.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejects conservative demands, including “poison pill” riders, and insists as he did earlier, there’s only one solution.
Lawmakers now have just ten days to write USDA and other spending bills to carry out the latest deal. After that, they face a February 2nd deadline for remaining bills, including funding the Pentagon.
