Legislators are scrambling to pass a $1.2 trillion spending bill before a tight deadline. The government will shut down if spending bills are not passed to fund government agencies and programs.
The legislation includes money for all government programs, from defense to healthcare, roads, and bridges to schools and national parks. The current fiscal year is closing, so lawmakers must agree to the spending package before essential services cease.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been wrestling with the spending bill for weeks, trying to figure out how to allocate money for each side’s priorities. This year, however, long-standing disagreements over specific provisions and how much money to spend on them have been compounded by the political constraints on the actual spending side.
Disagreements over funding allocation for border security, healthcare, the infamous ‘wall,’ and other issues have delayed bipartisan negotiations to find a compromise. Many of the shutdown’s causes and delays remain unchanged ahead of the proposed government re-opening in mid-December.
A government shutdown is on the horizon. Capitol Hill politicians know that if they don’t strike a deal, they could shutter non-essential government services, lay off federal employees, and snarling services and operations across the country.
On the external front, too, a government shutdown might have broader economic effects, which could impact financial markets and hurt consumer confidence. This layer of uncertainty, on top of a painful recovery from the COVID-19 recession for businesses and households, has the potential to do significant harm.
In that context, Congressional leaders are squeezed to rush legislative action to pass the spending bill to avert a shutdown. In fact, legislation has been streamlined in both houses of Congress to meet an agreement between two parties to address different popular interests of Americans.
As of press time, significant progress has been made in the days since that announcement, but the details still aren’t quite there. Lawmakers insist the deal will be done before the 11th hour for the sake of the nation’s fiscal challenges. Ideologically, we have to come together. We cannot continue to put our heads in the sand.
Hours tick by as the American public awaits news from Capitol Hill about the progress of the spending bill. Its passage—or failure—will not only decide the trajectory of government spending but also determine the future course of the economy and US society.
In a bid to beat the clock, lawmakers in Congress are preparing for a money sprint to approve a $1.2 trillion spending bill before a midnight deadline for a government shutdown. Over the holiday weekend, Congress continued to hustle to hammer out an accord on a bill to fund the US government through next autumn.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com March 22, 2024
