By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday was aiming to approve and send to President Joe Biden a three-week extension of federal funding to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government that otherwise would begin this weekend.
This third stop-gap measure since last September, which already has been approved by the House of Representatives, would give congressional Democrats and Republicans until March 11 to reach a deal on a spending bill that would keep Washington humming through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1.
The prolonged uncertainty over Washington’s finances for programs including many military operations comes at a time when Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops at its border with Ukraine, stoking fears of a looming invasion that has rattled NATO nations and financial markets.
House-Senate negotiations on a spending deal likely would appropriate around $1.5 trillion in “discretionary” funds for an array of government programs, including those administered by the Pentagon, the Environmental Protection Agency, State Department and other Cabinet-level departments.
Failure to reach a deal by March 11 would leave Congress with three options: simply passing a bill extending current funding at levels approved by the Trump administration for the remainder of this fiscal year; approving a fourth temporary funding bill in the hope that a grand deal still can be negotiated; or letting funding lapse. The latter would trigger widespread furloughs of federal workers and shutter many of the programs they administer.
The last time Congress failed to fund the government was in December, 2018, when Democrats balked at funding then-President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico “border wall,” one of his top 2016 campaign promises. During his campaign, Trump insisted Mexico would finance the vast project, an idea that the Mexican government flatly rejected, leaving U.S. taxpayers to potentially foot the bill for its construction.
Following a record, 35-day impasse, Trump found ways to partially circumvent Congress, but the so-called wall never was completed amid skepticism over its effectiveness.
This time around, Republicans are insisting that overall spending be split evenly between defense and non-defense programs. Democrats who narrowly control Congress have been seeking slightly more spending in the non-defense arena.
But if that top-line number is set, many disagreements would still have to be ironed out over individual programs.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Andrea Ricci)
