Tipsheet

Congress Releases Plan to Avoid Government Shutdown and Conservatives Are Not Thrilled With the Product

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  December 17, 2024 8:30 PM

Update: A person familiar has told Townhall that the Rules Committee is no longer going to meet at 8:00am on Wednesday morning. Such a move adds further concerns for conservatives who are already worried about such a CR, or, as conservatives are calling it, a "Cramnibus."

Original: On Tuesday night, Congress released a spending bill that is more than 1,500 pages long. Right off the bat, before we even get into what the bill contains, there's questions and concerns about adhering to the 72-hour rule to give members time to read the bill, and if Congress even has enough time, with a December 20 deadline looming. 

This continuing resolution (CR) would keep the government open until March 14, making for yet another deadline that members have to adhere here to and come up with a plan to fund the government. At that point, however, Republicans will at least control the White House, House, and Senate, whereas they presently only control the House, and by narrow margins. 

The CR is certainly bloated, and in more ways than one. Beyond the amount of pages, there also aren't enough offsets to satisfy conservatives. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has reminded that Hurricanes Helene and Milton have made it necessary to include disaster aide.

As reporting from The Hill mentioned:

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The newly unveiled 1,500-page package also features a host of add-ons, including a one-year farm bill extension, roughly $100 billion in disaster relief, about $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, and other authorizations. 

The deal wraps up weeks of negotiations over disaster aid and overall funding — most recently, a clash over farm aid — and marks the last funding deal of a divided Congress before Washington welcomes its next class in January. 

Details of the deal had already begun to come into focus ahead of the release Tuesday, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) braced members for the major package, including the disaster relief for areas hard hit by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The bill covers more than nearly $30 billion in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as officials have sounded alarm over the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund in recent months.

Lawmakers agreed on more than $2 billion in funding for the Small Business Administration after officials said its disaster loan program — which businesses and homeowners rely on for low-interest loans to recover from disasters — ran out of funds during hurricane season.

The bill also includes $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers, with billions more in disaster relief for farmers.

...

Still, the lack of offsets is sure to upset conservatives who have called for any additional funding to be offset with savings elsewhere.

Johnson said the goal was for “a very simple, very clean” stopgap funding plan “to get us into next year when we have a unified government.” But he added that “acts of God,” such as hurricanes, required disaster aid and other additions to the package.

Other add-ons in the legislation also include the reauthorization of the Counter-Unmanned Aerial System program.

The add-ons in the bill, along with the delayed rollout, frustrated Republicans from all corners of the conference Tuesday as they awaited the text of the measure.

...

Johnson said earlier on Tuesday that the goal is to go “through regular process” for consideration of the text in the lower chamber. If he goes that route, the earliest lawmakers could vote on the text would be Friday under the House’s 72-hour rule — which would mean the Senate needs to act quickly before the Friday midnight funding deadline. 

The report also mentions conservative members like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Eric Burlison (R-MO) and Ralph Norman (R-SC). Another member, Rep. Chip Roy, who like Burlison and Norman is a member of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), has been quite vocally opposed, as Ward Clark highlighted earlier for our sister site of RedState. 

"We're just fundamentally unserious about spending, as long as you've got a blank check, you can't shrink government, as long as you can't shrink government, you can't live free," Roy said in part of his remarks to reporters earlier on Tuesday. 

Roy has continued to speak out against the CR, offering "a warning shot" to other members, as he told RealClearPolitics on Tuesday evening. 

The HFC's official account over X also released a post that criticized the "Cramnibus" and calls for a move that gives them the 72 hours to read it, as well as a vote on the DOGE Act to cut non-defense spending levels, and an amendment to end President Joe Biden auctioning off the border wall. 

The HFC X account is also currently full of members chiming in to list their grievances about the bill at over 1,500 pages, with many members expressing concern about even being able to read the text.