Democrat AND Republican senators say ANOTHER emergency funding bill may be needed to avert a government shutdown in just four days: Biden will meet with Big Four leaders on Tuesday as spending talks sputter under pressure for aid to Ukraine and Israel

By William On Feb 27, 2024

With less than five days before the government’s next funding deadline, both Democratic and Republican senators concede that another temporary stopgap funding measure will likely be needed.

Biden will convene a meeting of Big Four congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss a path forward on spending amid a looming shutdown and make a last-ditch plea for foreign aid to wavering Chairman Mike Johnson .

Biden, Johnson, R-La., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., must agree on spending legislation before Friday at midnight — when funding for four of the 12 state agencies expires.

And weeks ago, the Senate passed a $95 billion bill to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and the Indo-Pacific, which Johnson has resisted bringing up in the House of Representatives without border security measures.

After meeting with Schumer on Monday, McConnell told reporters, “No, we’re not going to shut down the government.”

Johnson orchestrated the so-called “laddered” continuing resolution, or CR, as a means to shift the funding deadline to two different deadlines. Funding for four agencies ends on March 1. For the remaining eight, funding will expire a week later, on March 8.

The House of Representatives won’t return to Washington until Wednesday evening, just two days before the shutdown.

“I think we should just introduce a new resolution until March 8 and do the whole thing at once,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told DailyMail.com.

Virginia’s Democratic Senator Tim Kaine suggested “at least an extension for a few weeks.” “There is no reason why the government should shut down,” he told DailyMail.com.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, predicted Schumer would “force” a government shutdown for political purposes.

“We’ll see if Chuck Schumer and the speaker can come to an agreement or not,” he told DailyMail.com. “I have long thought it was likely that Schumer will force a shutdown in the White House sometime this year, because I think Democrats believe it is in their political interest to force a shutdown because the press will reliably blame Republicans.”

Weekend negotiations on a spending plan for the first four agencies – Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD – appeared to be stalled – the text was expected Sunday evening but was not released.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told DailyMail.com that Congress should “ideally” negotiate the appropriations bills this week and get them passed by both chambers, but “alternatively, we will have to introduce another continuing resolution.” ‘

“I don’t think we should shut down the government,” Rubio said.

Schumer wrote a letter to colleagues on Sunday evening blaming Republicans in the House of Representatives for the robbery.

“It is now clear that Republicans in the House of Representatives need more time to get their act together,” Schumer wrote. “It is my sincere hope that in the face of a disruptive shutdown that would damage our economy and make American families less safe, Speaker Johnson will step up to once again confront the extremists in his caucus and do the right thing. ‘

Johnson hit back, calling Schumer’s letter “counterproductive” and saying there are “good faith” agreements to reach an agreement.

He blamed the delay on 11th-century Democratic demands “that had not previously been included in Senate bills,” including new spending “priorities that are further left than what their chamber agreed on.”

Democrats have pushed for an additional $1 billion for the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

The House of Representatives farm appropriations bill would fund the program at 2023 levels.

“This is no time for petty politics. House Republicans will continue to work in good faith and hope to reach an outcome as quickly as possible, even as we continue to insist that our own border security needs to be addressed immediately.”

Some right-wing conservatives have demanded that border security provisions be attached to the spending legislation, which could thwart any chance of passage by both chambers.

But they have floated the idea of another CR — with the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus and other budget hawks calling for abandoning appropriations talks and pursuing a full-year CR.

“If Congress passes a CR past April 30, all discretionary spending will be cut by 1%!” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., signed a provision on X that he dubbed “the Massie Rule.”

A one percent across-the-board budget cut was included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the debt limit deal that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Biden negotiated.