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Lawmakers are back to work on Capitol Hill this week with the goal of determining a spending plan for fiscal 2024 before a partial government shutdown Jan. 19.
Congressional leaders provided a potential path forward Sunday by announcing a deal on overall budget totals that could pave the way for a broader compromise on funding the federal government.
The agreement establishes funding limits for the nation's military and domestic programs for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Since early last year, the House and Senate appropriations committees have been unable to agree on the 12 annual spending bills needed to fund the government because of disagreements over the total amount of money to be spent.
Now, they can at least begin working out their differences within a basic spending framework.
Under the bipartisan agreement between House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., defense spending is set at $886 billion for fiscal 2024.
The figure aligns with the total President Joe Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., agreed to as part of last summer’s debt-ceiling package. It would increase military programs by about 3% over fiscal 2023.
The agreement puts nondefense funding at nearly $773 billion, a boost of less than 1% over fiscal 2023.
Both full chambers of Congress are likely to accept the deal's basic framework, but not without some rancor from fiscal conservatives in the House who demanded steep spending cuts.
In a letter to House lawmakers Sunday, Johnson heralded $16 billion in extra spending cuts he negotiated beyond the terms of the debt agreement, for a total of $30 billion less than Senate lawmakers sought in the funding bills they have drafted.
Johnson called the deal "the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade," noting that the bipartisan accord will allow GOP lawmakers to put their mark on federal budgets.
Lawmakers must now work fast — funds for the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Veterans Affairs and Transportation expire Jan. 19, according to the current continuing resolution.
Funding for the rest of the federal government, including the nation's biggest domestic programs and defense, runs out Feb. 2.
A government shutdown remains possible. Another short-term CR, or stopgap budget, may be necessary.
Johnson and Schumer's agreement followed appeals to settle partisan differences from several individuals and groups, including NGAUS.
Retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the association's outgoing president, joined his counterparts at four other military associations in a Jan. 5 letter urging Congress to approve a timely and adequate defense budget to enable the Army and the rest of the Joint Force to respond to growing threats.
"As you know, our nation faces many threats, including Chinese aggression in the Pacific, responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the current crisis in the Middle East, North Korean malign activities, the continued threat of terrorism, and domestic emergencies like floods and wildfires — which makes timely and sufficient appropriations critical," the group said to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.
The heads of the Association of the U.S. Army, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation, the Reserve Organization of America and the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Association also signed the letter.
— By John Goheen
