Congressional leaders say agreement reached on short-term funding bill to avoid government shutdown

An agreement was reached on a short-term funding bill that avoids partial funding. government shutdownCongressional leaders announced on Sunday.

The continuing resolution would fund the government from March 1 to March 8, according to a statement from House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. become. The current financing agreement is took effect In November, it will provide funding to some federal departments until January 19th and others until February 2nd.

“Last week, House Republicans finally achieved an improved top-line agreement that will allow the House and Senate to complete their annual spending bill,” Johnson said in a statement when the resolution was announced. Ta.

Schumer said in a statement Sunday that the Senate will reconvene on Tuesday to begin the process of passing a continuing resolution.

“To avoid a shutdown, we need bipartisan cooperation in the House and Senate to quickly pass the CR and send it to the President’s desk before Friday’s funding deadline,” Schumer said.

In a letter to House Democrats, Jeffries said the continuing resolution “maintains funding at fiscal year 2023 levels and has no partisan poison pill policy changes. For these reasons, I will continue to move forward with the appropriations process. I strongly support their efforts.” and avoid a devastating partial government shutdown. ”

If passed, it would be the third short-term spending deal agreed to by Congress. since september.

There is a wide gap between Democrats and Republicans in budget negotiations, with Republicans calling for significant spending cuts. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday that he is moving forward with his own measure on short-term spending agreements.

Schumer said some members of Congress are “actually saying the shutdown is a good thing” and that those who want it are “trying to bully the rest of Congress and the country into conforming to extremist views.” ” he added.

schumer and johnson an agreement was reached Last weekend, it was announced that total government spending for fiscal year 2024 would be set at $1.66 trillion. This includes $886 billion in defense spending and $772 billion in non-defense spending.

Several House of Commons conservative hardliners tried to get Johnson to change key spending deals, but Johnson told reporters Friday that the deal would remain in place.

— Caitlin Yilek and Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report.