Congress Avoids 2023 Funding Lapse; Sets Up Early 2024 Funding Showdown, But Funds Farm Bill For One Year
Congress has passed a stopgap bill to keep the government open, putting Congress on a path to avert a shutdown this Friday and setting the stage for a broader funding fight in the new year. The President signed the legislation - which funds the government in two tranches - on Thursday evening after returning from meeting with China's President Xi in California.
In one of his first leadership tests in his new role, Speaker Johnson's unconventional spending proposal prevailed. Johnson pitched a two-tiered funding plan that will extend funding until January 19th for priorities including military construction, veterans’ affairs, transportation, housing, and the Energy Department. The rest of the government – anything not covered by the first step – would be funded until February 2nd. The proposal does not include additional aid for Israel or Ukraine.
Ironically, while this 'laddered' concept has House Freedom Caucus origins, the conservative group refused to support the bill and was outspokenly angry with the Speaker's next decision: reaching out for bipartisan consensus to pass the legislation.
Johnson’s plan was quickly accepted by Democrats. In fact, more Democrats supported the measure than Republicans. Many view this as a warning sign to the newly elected speaker. 209 Democrats voted for the bill, while only 127 Republicans voted for it.
On the other side of the Hill, the 87-11 Senate vote late Wednesday night sends the measure to President Joe Biden’s desk. The measure “accomplishes two things that I and other Democrats have been insistent on for weeks: it will avoid a government shutdown, and it will do so without any of the cruel cuts or poison pills that the hard right pushed for,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
The Senate’s approval allows both parties to regroup over the Thanksgiving holiday while talks continue on a border security compromise and broader spending deals.
Farm Bill Extension
One of the most significant matters included in the laddered continuing resolution was the extension of the 2018 Farm Bill through September 30, 2024.
In summary:
Crop insurance programs will continue as they are authorized by permanent mandatory funding. Title 1 commodity programs: Price Loss Coverage, Agriculture Risk Coverage, and Marketing Assistance Loan Programs will be available for the 2024 crop year. As it stands, the 2018 Farm Bill to utilize commodity program changes has not been extended.
Additionally, Dairy Margin Coverage and supplemental DMC for small to medium-sized producers will be extended for the 2024 calendar year. Government nutrition programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, were also extended.
The extension also includes funding for conservation programs, including the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program, the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, and the Feral Swine Eradication Control Pilot Program. Other programs that will receive funding through the farm bill extension are:
Farm to Food Bank Program
Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program
National Organic Certification Cost-share
Emergency Citrus Disease Research
Wool Apparel Manufacturing Trust Fund
Pima Cotton Trust Fund
Wool Research and Promotion and Sheep Production and Marketing Grants
The extension will also allocate money to three research initiatives, including $37 million for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and $10 million for scholarships at 1890 land grant institutions.
Senators Stabenow, Boozeman, Thompson, and Scott released a statement saying they are pleased to have avoided a lapse in funding for critical agricultural programs. They also noted that this is no substitute for passing a 5-year farm bill and remain committed to getting the job done in 2024.
Constitution Partners remains concerned with congressional inactivity if Farm Bill reauthorization is allowed to lapse beyond Spring 2024. Neither chamber has yet released draft text or held a markup on any legislative proposal for the Farm Bill reauthorization. Summer 2024 brings around the presidential conventions and then it's off to the races for the 2024 elections with little time on the legislative calendar in little appetite for bipartisan activity.
What’s Next for Congress?
Even as Congress easily averted a potential government shutdown this week, temperatures were high. This past Wednesday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was accused of elbowing Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) in the hall while Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) challenged Sean O’Brien, the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to a fight during a Senate HELP Committee hearing.
Some of the top issues for Congress upon its return on November 27th include more spending demands and foreign aid requests. The Senate has passed three of its 12 spending bills, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top GOP appropriator, has pitched a four-bill package to deal with 70% of the remaining discretionary spending, aiming to speed things up.
The House, meanwhile, has passed seven bills and short-circuited on the remaining five amid disputes between hardline Republicans and their more moderate colleagues. There’s plenty of work left before the staggered funding deadlines on January 19th and February 2nd.
On foreign aid, there is another push to finalize a national security package that could include aid to Israel and Ukraine and money and policy changes to tighten border security. Some Republicans might agree to Ukraine aid if it was attached to plans to tighten rules around migrant asylum and parole, and to provide more money to recruit and retain border agents. Democrats might go along with the border plan if it allows for support for Ukraine. Israel has widespread support so that aid could attract votes for the wider package.