Jan. 7 (UPI) — House Republicans and Senate Democrats have agreed on the amount of money the U.S. government will spend for the rest of this year, putting Congress on the path toward preventing a government shutdown.
The so-called topline spending deal was announced Sunday by House Speaker Mike Johnson in guidance to his party that states the spending limit for fiscal year 2024 will be set at $1.59 trillion, the same as last year.
According to the guidance, it includes $886 billion for the military and $704 billion in non-defense spending.
Though a step toward avoiding a government shutdown, Congress still needs to sign off on how some of that money will be spent before Jan. 19, the first of two deadlines placed on the politicians.
In the guidance, Johnson called it “the most favorable budget agreement in years” and includes $16 billion in cuts to Democratic spending priorities, including $10 billion for Internal Revenue Service personnel and $6.1 billion in COVID funds.
He also said it prepares House Republicans to “continue fighting for conservative policy wins.”
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries released a joint statement Sunday stating the bipartisan topline appropriation clears the way for the various appropriations committees to work over the next few weeks to negotiate deals to keep the government running.
“The framework agreement to proceed will enable the appropriators to address many of the major challenges America faces at home and abroad,” the Democratic leaders said. “It will also allow us to keep the investments for hardworking American families secured by the legislative achievements of President [Joe] Biden and Congressional Democrats.
“Finally, we have made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including poison pill policy changes in any of the 12 appropriations bills put before the Congress.”
Meanwhile, the far-right House Freedom Caucus lambasted the deal for being “worse” than it had anticipated, suggesting it may present a stumbling block to averting the government shutdown.
“America is on the path to fiscal ruin,” it said in a statement Sunday night, while voicing concern over the nation’s debt. “Unfortunately, members of the House and Senate have done little to force a course correction from this calamity.”
Biden, on the other hand, welcomed the agreement while urging Republicans to stop threatening to shut down the government “and fulfill their basic responsibility to fund critical domestic and national security priorities,” including his more than $100 billion supplemental funding package for Ukraine and Israel.
“It’s time for them to act,” he said in a statement.