March 19, 2024
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The United States Congress and The White House have until midnight this Friday, March 22, 2024, to pass a spending bill for approximately 70% of the federal government, or a partial government shutdown will be set to occur, including the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Transportation Security Administration. As reported in today's publication of The Philadelphia Inquirer, a dispute over border security funding has threatened any potential spending agreements. This past Friday, March 15, 2024, congressional negotiators were reportedly nearing an agreement to complete a spending bill for the remaining agencies not funded by the "minibus" package signed into law two weeks ago, which funded the other 30% of federal government agencies through the end of the fiscal year; however, disagreements over immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border have hampered any such agreement. Lawmakers have said that the politics of funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the border, were so difficult that appropriations would likely have to resort to a stopgap spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, rather than the preferred longer-term spending bill for the remainder of the fiscal year. |
