According to the negotiations, Congress has achieved an agreement to prevent a shutdown of the government.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) all made comments announcing the breakthrough, though they lacked specifics. Before this Friday’s scheduled partial government shutdown, negotiators had been working feverishly to strike an agreement.
Leahy stated in a statement that the three of them had come to an agreement on a bipartisan, bicameral framework that would allow them to complete an omnibus appropriations package that could pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the President.
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Adding, “the pain of inflation is real, and it is being felt across the federal government and by American families right now,” he said. “A two-month continuing resolution won’t give us enough time to finish our task. In the coming week, I look forward to working with my friend, Vice Chairman Shelby, and Chair DeLauro to complete the task that the American people have brought us here to do.”
In the past, the bickering between negotiators over $26 billion in nondefense spending kept them from agreeing on a top-line number for the omnibus measure. Republicans claimed that spending legislation passed by this Congress subsidized Democrats’ domestic goals, while Democrats claimed that Republicans were giving up on the principle of “parity” in spending, in which increases in defense spending are matched by increases in domestic spending.
Prior to this, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had warned that time was running out to cut a deal and that Democrats would soon have to settle for a short-term extension of government funding, known as a continuing resolution, that would postpone an agreement until the next session of Congress.
If the deal falls through on January 3, when Republicans assume control of the House, it will be far more difficult for Democrats to negotiate.
