Washington, Jan 5 (.) US lawmakers returned to Washington this week, as an end-of-the-month-deadline loomed fresh on the horizon, in order to avert another federal government shutdown.
The development comes as another funding fight seems imminent, amid infighting between Republican lawmakers over rising health care costs, and mounting frustration with the Justice Department’s handling of the rollout of the Epstein files, with the recent tensions with Venezuela further adding to the opposition’s woes.
Funding the government has moved to the top of Congress’s agenda after a bruising 43-day shutdown from October through mid-November, the longest in US history.
To reopen agencies, lawmakers approved stopgap legislation that funded some parts of the government through the end of the fiscal year in September, while extending funding for most agencies only until January 30.
Congress risks a partial shutdown if it does not approve new funding or another short-term patch for the remaining portions of the government before the end of the month.
Furthermore, it has to balance that priority alongside other legislative battles, exacerbating difficulties.
GOP lawmakers Susan Collins of Maine and Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the top Republican appropriators in the Senate and House, announced an agreement on top-line spending for the remaining nine funding bills just before Christmas, reports CBS News.
Cole said the framework aligned with President Donald Trump’s push to curb what he described as “runaway, beltway-driven spending,” noting that the proposed totals fall below current levels. He said work would now begin on drafting full-year funding bills in January.
Though the agreement brings Congress closer to avoiding another shutdown, key hurdles remain aplenty. While Republicans have settled on topline numbers, no formal deal has yet been reached with Democrats.
In the Senate, Democratic support is essential to overcome the 60-vote threshold, and in the House, it could prove decisive if conservative Republicans again threaten to block funding measures.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is also grappling with an increasingly narrow margin. The departure of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is leaving Congress a year early after a public feud with Trump, will reduce Johnson’s majority to just two votes.
In the Senate, efforts to move ahead with a package of funding bills — a so-called “minibus” — before the winter recess stalled after two Colorado Democrats objected.
The measure was blocked by Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in protest at the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. Their opposition hardened further after Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill intended to ease construction of a water pipeline in Colorado.
If negotiations over long-term funding falter, congressional leaders could again resort to a short-term continuing resolution, delaying a final settlement and prolonging uncertainty.
Despite mounting tensions, NYC Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed on Sunday that Congress was not headed towards a shutdown at the end of the month, adding that the Democrats wanted to reopen the govt in a bipartisan-bicameral basis, through September, and “the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us and we’re making good progress in that regard.”
Healthcare policy has re-emerged as a political flashpoint, for while the Democrats sought to extend the enhanced premium tax credits of the Affordable Care Act as part of the agreement to reopen the government fell short and the subsidies expired last week, raising premiums for millions of Americans who purchase health insurance through the exchanges.
After the Senate rejected a Democratic bill to extend the credits for three years without reforms, four moderate House Republicans joined the Democrats in backing a discharge petition to force a vote.
While the Republicans have been vocally critical over the lack of needed reforms such as income caps, they argued that allowing the credits to expire was worse.
The House is expected to vote on the petition in the coming days, with Johnson acknowledging it was “inevitable” the issue would reach the floor.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the Democrats would push for a straightforward extension when lawmakers return, warning that higher premiums, copays and deductibles for tens of millions of US citizens was “completely and totally unacceptable,” adding that the GOP had a responsibility to work with Democrats to prevent such an outcome.
The discharge petition has injected momentum into broader bipartisan talks on healthcare costs, with moderate lawmakers in both chambers continuing discussions over the recess.
If a compromise emerges, the petition could become the vehicle for extending the tax credits with targeted reforms — even as Congress races to keep the government funded before the January deadline.
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