Johnson Proposes Stopgap Funding Bill, Includes Farm Bill Extension
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The current continuing resolution to fund the federal government expires on November 17, setting up the possibility of a government shutdown. Leaders in the House and Senate have been working to create a stopgap bill to keep the government funded past the deadline, but each chamber is taking a different approach. House Speaker Johnson announced his compromise spending plan, which if passed, would extend government funding for some agencies to January, and some to February 2024. Speaker Johnson has released a stopgap proposal that uses a ladder-approach method with different deadlines set for different agencies. His proposal would fund parts of the Government through January 19th (Veterans Affairs, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development) pushing the House and Senate to work out full-funding legislation for those agencies quickly. The rest of the agencies would be funded through Feb. 2. Speaker Johnson’s plan does not include any aid for Ukraine or Israel, nor does it include Conservative hardliner’s spending cut requests. Spending cuts have been a contentious topic in the House, and their absence in the Speaker’s Bill will certainly draw complaints from the hardliners. This was done in recognition that spending cuts are a non-starter with both Senate Democrats and Republicans. The White House and Majority Leader Schumer has expressed concerns about the ladder approach and favor a continuing resolution covering the full government.
Johnson’s proposal also includes a one-year extension of the Farm Bill. Extending the 2018 Farm Bill to October 2024 would ensure continuity for farmers in the coming crop year. Bipartisan leaders from both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are in agreement that a year-long extension is needed. The “four corners” of the committee released the following statement in support of the extension: “As negotiations on funding the government progress, we were able to come together to avoid a lapse in funding for critical agricultural programs and provide certainty to producers. This extension is in no way a substitute for passing a 5-year Farm Bill and we remain committed to working together to get it done next year.”