WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is seeking legislation that would extend current federal funding until January 31, avoiding a partial government shutdown beginning October 1, Republican U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on Tuesday.
“That was a suggestion,” Scalise told reporters, adding, “We’re still working on the dates and how long it would extend, but that hasn’t been finalized yet.”
A stopgap funding bill, if approved by Congress, would continue federal funding of many Washington programs at the current fiscal year’s level, although there potentially could be add-ons for “emergency” accounts, such as for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief efforts.
Individual lawmakers could also seek other new initiatives.
Some sort of government funding bill is needed by September 30, the end of the current fiscal year when funding expires for a range of federal programs.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Congress and President Donald Trump are fighting over around $1.6 trillion in “discretionary” government spending out of nearly $7 trillion overall when taking into account programs such as Social Security that are automatically funded, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Some of the largest expenditures are for military programs and interest payments on a national debt of $37.4 trillion – an amount that is becoming increasingly worrying to fiscal experts.
So far, Congress has not agreed on any of the dozen discretionary appropriations bills to operate an array of agency programs in the fiscal year beginning October 1. This does not include safety-net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid health insurance for the poor, elderly and disabled.
Representative Rosa DeLauro, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called the White House move an “extreme request.”
“This is the latest example of the White House trying to thwart the bipartisan appropriations process that invests in our constituents. Any spending package must protect Democratic priorities and Congress’s power of the purse,” DeLauro said.
Republicans currently hold a 219-212 House majority and a 53-47 majority in the Senate, where they would need at least seven Democrats to vote in favor of a continuing resolution or “CR” to meet that chamber’s 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation.
The need for prompt action by Congress to avert an interruption in government services comes as Trump has taken actions that some lawmakers and observers contend are eroding lawmakers’ power of the purse as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
His administration has so far withheld over $412 billion of congressionally approved spending, according to data compiled by Democratic Senator Patty Murray and DeLauro.
The Trump administration expects federal agencies to shed about 300,000 workers this year, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said in August. That would be the result of firings, early retirements, resignations and buyouts and would represent a 12.5% decrease in the federal workforce since January.
In late 2018 and early 2019 Trump presided over the longest government shutdown in U.S. history: 35 days as he demanded Congress fund the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
It ended without Congress meeting his demand.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone, Mark Porter and Daniel Wallis)
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