House and Senate lawmakers have struck a much-anticipated deal on a potential framework for an omnibus package to fund the government for fiscal year 2023. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Tuesday night said negotiators had “reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the President.” Government funding runs out at midnight Friday, and lawmakers must pass a short-term funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), this week in order to prevent a shutdown. The House is expected to pass a weeklong stopgap spending bill today that would keep the government’s funded through December 23rd to give negotiators and lawmakers enough time to pass the omnibus package. The Senate would advance the bill on its own shortly after, on Thursday. The omnibus package would set spending through September 30th, the end of the fiscal year. There are still outstanding issues at play, none of the three negotiators indicated what the top-line figure was or any other details of the framework. The main hang up in discussions was the disparity between domestic and defense spending, both of which are expected to get a significant boost from the current spending levels. As he struggles to try to find 218 votes to become Speaker, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, (R-California), is opposed to any omnibus package and there’s a broad view in his conference that they shouldn’t pass a final spending bill until next year after they’ve assumed control in that chamber. Republican House leadership earlier Tuesday sent out a whip notice urging a vote against even the one-week CR, arguing they shouldn’t help set the table for an omnibus deal next week. The CR, however, is expected to pass.
For today, as the Senate waits to take up the CR, Senators are considering S.J.Res.60, Charter Schools CRA, as well as the nomination of Francisco O. Mora to be Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador.
As mentioned, the House is expected to take up the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1437 – Further Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2023. The House is also expected to consider S. 4003 – Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022, S. 3905 – Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act and H.R. 3648 – EAGLE Act of 2022.
The House may also take up as many as nineteen bills under suspension of the Rules as they try to clear the calendar before next Friday.
