House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a spending bill Sunday that will avert a government shutdown if it is passed by both the House and Senate before funding runs out on September 30.
Johnson said in a letter to lawmakers that he does not want a shutdown weeks before the election. But he also stressed that the legislation “will be a very narrow, bare-bones CR (continuing resolution) including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary.”
The spending plan, known as a limited continuing resolution, has bipartisan support.
The top Democrats in Congress, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, praised bipartisan negotiations that led to a funding agreement “free of cuts and poison pills” and signaled swift passage of the stopgap bill ahead of the deadline.
Still, even with a possible deal, the federal government will start preparing for a potential shutdown of nonessential operations this week, which could affect millions of federal workers and military personnel, as well as impact important functions such as Head Start, border security and lending programs, among others.
Congress rarely passes funding bills on time, but the US legislative branch had to pass a series of continuing resolutions – raising shutdown fears each time – before finally approving measures in March to fully fund the government for the current fiscal year.
Maintain government funding through December 20
The bill will keep the government up and running for about three more months, through December 20.
The extension will avoid the potential for a government shutdown before the November election but sets up a showdown over a full spending package just before the Christmas holiday.
Provide more money for the Secret Service
The bill includes an additional $231 million for the US Secret Service to help the agency protect the 2024 presidential candidates.
The boost in funding follows a second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on September 15 at his Florida golf club. The previous assassination attempt against Trump occurred in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The incidents have sparked scrutiny of the Secret Service. Kimberly Cheatle, resigned as director of the agency a day after testifying before lawmakers about the July assassination attempt.
The new funds for the Secret Service won’t be made available until the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, sends a requested report to the House committee tasked with investigating the first assassination attempt.
The additional money will remain available until September 30, 2025.
Exclude a noncitizen voting measure and disaster funding
Johnson previously introduced a six-month GOP government funding plan that included a controversial measure targeting noncitizen voting, an effort pushed by Trump despite the fact that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
The former president had called for a government shutdown if lawmakers could not get the voting measure, known as the SAVE Act, passed into law.
The House failed to pass that spending bill on Wednesday, and the voting measure was not included in the bill released Sunday.
Sunday’s stopgap measure also does not include an additional $10 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funding – which is running out of money after multiple catastrophic events this year – that Johnson had included in the six-month version. But the legislation does allow the agency to speed up its use of the funds made available in the continuing resolution for necessary response and recovery activities.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Lauren Fox and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.
