Schumer announces Senate to cancel part of holiday recess as border talks continue
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the Senate will cancel part of its holiday recess and return to hash out border security negotiations to pass a national supplemental aid package.
The Senate is expected to hold a cloture vote Tuesday evening, inching closer to passing another temporary spending patch known as a continuing resolution (CR) that Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed upon to avert a government shutdown.
Cloture is a procedure to limit debate on a bill, aiming to move toward a final vote.
"To avoid a shutdown, it will take bipartisan cooperation in the Senate and the House to quickly pass the CR and send it to the President’s desk before Friday’s funding deadline," Schumer said in a statement on Sunday night.
"The bipartisan topline funding agreement reached ensures that America will be able to address many of the major challenges our country faces at home and abroad. It is clear that a Continuing Resolution is necessary to give the Appropriations Committee additional time to finish drafting their bills to reflect the new agreement," he wrote.
SENATE NOT EXPECTED TO RELEASE TEXT ON BORDER PACKAGE THIS WEEK
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and House Speaker Mike Johnson recently struck an agreement to establish the government's discretionary spending levels at $1.59 trillion for fiscal year 2024.
On Sunday night, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of the CR to avert a partial government shutdown at the end of this week. The CR is still a "laddered" approach, with deadlines extended for funding government agencies until March 1 and March 8.
Schumer indicated the CR will follow the same structure as the current one that is set to expire on Jan. 19 and Feb. 2.
This implies that the initial set of programs facing expiration includes those covered by the Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD spending bills.
The subsequent set falls within the Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Financial Services-General Government, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations spending bills.
The aim of having two separate deadlines is to prevent Congress from passing a comprehensive "omnibus" spending bill, a stance widely opposed by Republicans.
Earlier this month, Johnson and Schumer struck an agreement to establish the government's discretionary spending levels at $1.59 trillion for fiscal year 2024. Additionally, they would adhere to a supplementary agreement for an extra $69 billion, originally negotiated between former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Biden, with Johnson negotiating $16 billion in added cuts to offset that.
DEMS, GOP AT STANDSTILL ON BORDER SECURITY DEAL WITH SEVERAL ‘UNANSWERED ISSUES’ REMAINING
The U.S. Capitol (Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Meanwhile, Congress still has to deal with the White House's $110 billion national security supplemental request with aid to Ukraine, in addition to an ongoing border security deal on which lawmakers are seeking agreement.
Republican lawmakers threatened last week to hold up government funding in exchange for stronger border security during a press conference led by Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Md.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers began border talks with White House officials in December but have been unsuccessful in reaching a deal.
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