Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are scrambling to pass a continuing resolution that will keep the government funded through March after President-elect Donald Trump pressured House leaders to scrap a carefully negotiated deal.
Congress has already missed its mandated 30 September deadline for fiscal year 2025 appropriations, punting any disagreements on the budget until after the November elections.
That included funding for NOAA Fisheries, where House and Senate lawmakers were considering substantially different levels of funding. President Joe Biden had proposed a USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) budget for NOAA Fisheries, which the Democrat-led Senate largely approved. The Republican-led House, however, proposed cutting the agency’s budget by 22 percent.
Now, lawmakers are unlikely to reconcile those opposing plans until Spring.
At the beginning of this week, federal lawmakers were set to further delay any decision, passing a short-term spending bill that will maintain current funding levels until March – before the current extension ends 20 December. That plan has run into opposition from some Republican lawmakers in the House, and Trump has pressured House Speaker Mike Johnson to abandon his proposal.
The sudden change in approach drew immediate condemnation from Democrats.
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in an 18 December statement. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that—while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.”
Politico reported 19 December that Republicans had come to an agreement on a new deal, which would fund the government through mid-March, suspend the debt limit for two years, and provide USD 110 billion (EUR 106 billion) in disaster aid. Trump has backed the new deal.
"All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country and vote 'YES' for this Bill, TONIGHT!" the president-elect said on social media platform Truth Social.
The deal would also reportedly extend the current Farm Bill, as many of its provisions are set to expire as well. Lawmakers had hoped to pass a new Farm Bill by the end of this year, but little progress has been made in those negotiations. The U.S. fishing and aquaculture industries have been closely watching the Farm Bill negotiations, hoping to establish new levels of support for the seafood sector within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It's unclear if the hastily rewritten budget package will have enough votes to pass the House as Democrats were not included in the renegotiations.
If Congress is unable to pass a short-term funding bill, parts of the government will shut down and thousands of federal workers will likely be furloughed until new funding is approved. U.S. agencies are typically allowed to continue conduction “essential” functions with skeleton crews.
