The Senate is also likely to approve the House proposal and send it to President Joe Biden for his signature before Friday’s midnight deadline.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 336-95 on Tuesday to approve a plan to avoid a partial government shutdown on Saturday, but at the same time the measure postpones contentious debates over spending priorities until early 2024.
Current funding for all government agencies expires at midnight Friday, forcing Congress and the White House to reach a short-term deal to keep the government running.
The House agreed to a proposal from its new speaker, Mike Johnson, the leader of the narrow Republican majority in the House, extending funding for some government agencies until mid-January and others until early February.
For those two dates, Congress must debate and decide on spending levels across the government by September of next year or reauthorize another short-term deal.
In approving his plan, Johnson received more votes from Democrats (209) than from Republicans (127). 93 Republicans and two Democrats opposed it.
Also Read: Mike Johnson Officially Endorses Donald Trump; a step beyond his predecessor Kevin McCarthy
The Senate is also likely to approve the proposal and send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.
Johnson has drawn the ire of a right-wing faction of his Republican colleagues because his budget plan does not include the spending cuts or policy changes they sought. Several of the arch-conservatives made it clear that they would vote against Johnson’s plan, forcing him to seek the opposition’s Democratic votes to ensure its passage.
That’s exactly what happened in late September, when then-President Kevin McCarthy angered the right-wing bloc by winning Democratic votes to push through the seven-week spending plan that expires at midnight Friday. Days after that political battle, eight right-wing Republicans joined the unanimous Democratic caucus to oust McCarthy from the presidency, a first in American history.
There is no sign that Johnson will suffer a similar fate, as he himself is a staunch conservative and his like-minded colleagues appear to be giving him scope for a deal that keeps the government open for now.
Johnson said his “staggered” funding deadlines in early 2024 are aimed at avoiding a Washington tradition: passing a massive spending measure just before the Christmas and New Year holidays, budget bills so long that few lawmakers have had time to read them and digest them as Congress rushes to adjourn its year-end recess.
In the latest dispute, the far-right Republican caucus in the House of Representatives called for spending cuts that more moderate Republican lawmakers and the near-unanimous caucus of Democrats in the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden have rejected.
Instead, Johnson’s plan calls for maintaining spending levels at the same level as in the fiscal year that ended September 30. Johnson also rejected attempts to include divisive cultural issues favored by some far-right conservatives, but also did not include billions of dollars in new financial aid. Biden visited Ukraine and Israel as they waged their respective wars against Russia and Hamas militants.
Congress is expected to consider more funding for Ukraine and Israel in separate bills in the coming weeks.
Without significant new funding for government agencies by midnight Friday, government operations deemed non-essential, such as camping in national parks, advising taxpayers and some scientific research, would grind to a halt.
In recent days, ratings agencies have downgraded the government’s credit rating due to ongoing fiscal uncertainty, a move that could lead to higher borrowing costs for the United States, whose national debt now stands at $34 trillion.