January 8, 2024
The United States Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to return in full on January 9, 2024, after their holiday recess, leaving just 10 days from that point to pass legislation and prevent a government shutdown.
On November 16, 2023, President Joe Biden signed into law a two-tiered Continuing Resolution (CR) that extended temporary funding at current levels for some government agencies until January 19, 2024, and for other agencies until February 2, 2024.
Under the CR, funding for agencies dealing with agriculture, military construction/veterans affairs, energy and water, transportation, and housing and urban development was extended until January 19th; and the remaining agency appropriations, for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Science, Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior and Environment, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the Legislative Branch and state and foreign operations, were extended to February 2nd.
Now, with Congress set to return in full from their holiday recess on January 9, 2024, the House and the Senate will have just 10 days to either pass a long-term funding bill or agree to another CR.
As reported on cnn.com, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are moving closer to an agreement to set overall funding levels, with aides to Johnson and Schumer having spent weeks trying to reach a deal.
As with the last government shutdown in November of 2023, some House Republicans are calling for provisions to enact stricter border policies to slow immigration at the southern border, and are threatening to shut down the government and not approve more funding until their demands are met.
Sen. Schumer was quoted having said on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, "We've made real good, good progress in that regard and we're getting quite close . . . I'm hopeful that we can get a budget agreement soon, and I'm hopeful that we could avoid this shutdown."
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