The final government spending package to avoid a partial shutdown later this week ran into some last-minute snags over the weekend due to lingering disagreements on how to address the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.
Lawmakers were initially expected to release legislative text for the final six appropriations bills on Sunday afternoon in order to schedule a vote this week before government funding is set to lapse for a slew of agencies on Friday night just after midnight. However, a dispute over border security funding has threatened progress on the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security — heightening the risk of a partial government shutdown.
Congressional negotiators were close to finalizing a deal on the remaining six appropriations bills by the end of last week. Those bills include Commerce, Justice, and Science; the Department of Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Interior and Environment departments; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; the Legislative Branch; and State and Foreign Operations.
Five of those appropriations bills are finalized, and negotiations are complete, a source familiar with the process told the Washington Examiner. However, lingering disagreements on the bill to fund the DHS have caused a delay in the full package being released.
The senior GOP leadership aide also told the Washington Examiner that the White House threatened to shut down a continuing resolution on DHS funding on Saturday.
“Republicans have always said we will provide all the resources necessary for enforcement, but not a blank check to simply ‘manage’ people into the country and bail out sanctuary cities,” a senior GOP aide said on Sunday. “Republicans have been clear and consistent that more appropriations are necessary for border enforcement, which Democrats had consistently objected to. On this front, the House bill provided significantly more than the Senate bill, and House offers throughout the bicameral negotiation have done the same.”
As a result, House Republicans have urged the White House to enter into negotiations between congressional Republicans and Democrats, underscoring the precarious nature of the negotiations. Republicans have accused the White House of failing to communicate with congressional Democrats, which one aide says “has placed us on the brink of a shutdown.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House for comment but has not received a response.
Since then, sources familiar with the talks say headway has been made on DHS negotiations on Sunday afternoon and that there is a path forward. Text is not expected, though, until sometime Monday, a senior GOP leadership aide told the Washington Examiner.
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“House Republicans will continue to work in good faith to reach consensus on the appropriations bills that reprioritizes DHS funding towards enforcing border and immigration laws,” Raj Shah, spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), said in a statement.
The government is set to enter a partial shutdown if some sort of spending deal is not made by the end of this week that can make its way through the House and Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden.
However, if negotiations continue to break down over DHS funding, lawmakers may need to turn to another stopgap spending measure — something that negotiators on both sides of the aisle have expressed opposition to.
