U.S. President Joe Biden (right) shakes hands with House Speaker Mike Johnson during the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation’s annual event at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 1, 2024.
Brendan Smirovsky | AFP | Getty Images
The Biden administration announced its support for the latest short-term government funding proposal on Tuesday, greatly reducing the possibility of a partial shutdown before the November 5 presidential election.
exist a statement White House commends Office of Management and Budget bill Commends Congress “for providing more time later this year to complete a full-year appropriations bill that will serve America’s defense, veterans, seniors, children, and working families, and address the urgent needs of the American people, including for communities recovering from disasters.” Urgent need.
The statement was far from clear support for the proposal by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). The statement criticized congressional Republicans for not providing additional funding for disaster relief, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration.
“The administration is deeply concerned that congressional Republicans continue to block critical funding requested by the administration to avoid severe disruption to several critical government services, including effectively halting operations of the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program later this fall,” the report states. Feeling disappointed.
The White House also warned it would oppose any funding cuts to the IRS in final funding legislation.
The bill, introduced by Johnson on Sunday after his initial proposal failed to pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier this month, would fund the government until December 20 instead of March 2025. Including any part of the SAVE Act, a controversial voter ID bill.
President Joe Biden and many congressional Democrats have staunchly opposed plans to include the SAVES Act in government appropriations bills. But members of Johnson’s own caucus rejected his initial funding measure when 14 house republicans Vote against it on September 18th.
The new proposal appears to go against the wishes of former President Donald Trump, who publicly called on congressional Republicans to shut down the government if the SAVES Act was excluded from appropriations bills.
The latest bill does include $231 million for the Secret Service, whose funding and resources have been in the spotlight following two assassination attempts on Trump.
Congress and the White House have until midnight on September 30 to pass the bill and sign it into law to avoid a partial government shutdown just over a month before Election Day.
House Republican aides said Sunday that the funding proposal could come before the House for a vote as soon as Wednesday.
The White House statement said: “The Administration calls on both houses of Congress to quickly pass this bill to avoid a costly and unnecessary government shutdown and ensure sufficient time to pass the full fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill later this year.”
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