United States Congressional leaders released another short-term funding agreement Tuesday night that, if passed, would keep the government open through March 14 of next year.
Absent this legislation, the government would be facing a shutdown Friday when the stop-gap funds approved in September are set to expire.
Among the hundreds of pages worth of legislation released Tuesday are not only billions of dollars worth of spending for causes such as storm relief and agriculture, but also a several-thousand-dollar pay raise for lawmakers and the ability to opt out of ObamaCare health insurance.
[RELATED: Congress Kicks Fiscal Can Past Election with Another Short Term Funding Bill — No SAVE Act]
Included in the over 1,500 page bill is a $100.4 billion appropriation for disaster relief funding aimed at addressing the damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The largest share of this funding — about $29 billion — will be directed toward the main disaster relief fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Roughly $21 billion will go toward farmers who have lost their crops or livestock as a result of these disasters.
The legislation would further give about $10 billion worth of economic assistance to farmers, as well as provide a one-year extension of the farm bill.
It would also reauthorize a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that allows federal agencies to coordinate and counter drone threats.
In addition to this funding, however, this continuing resolution also contains a number of policy initiatives, including some which would directly benefit lawmakers.
Most notably, the package includes a pay raise for legislators equal to as much as $6,600. Congress has blocked similar “cost of living” increases for the past fifteen years.
Rank and file members of the House and Senate currently make $174,000 annually, with some members of leadership making nearly $225,000 each year.
Although the real median household income in America was $80,610 in 2023, some lawmakers have recently argued that it is not enough to keep up with the responsibilities associated with the job.
“If we want working class people who don’t rely on independent wealth, to represent people in Congress, we have to make it work,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told Business Insider earlier this year.
“You have quite a number of members of Congress that sleep in their offices,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told the same publication earlier this year. “In this day and age, it makes sense to have people that feel that they can serve, and still be able to sleep in a home at night.”
The continuing resolution would also allow legislators to opt out of Affordable Care Act health coverage and to instead enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Recently re-elected representative for Maine’s Second Congressional District Jared Golden (D) released a statement Wednesday saying that he would vote against the continuing resolution due to the inclusion of these benefits.
“We should be working to raise Americans’ wages and lower their health care costs, not slipping new taxpayer-funded perks for ourselves into must-pass legislation behind closed doors,” Rep. Golden said. “As long as raises and new health care perks for members are in the [continuing resolution], I will vote against it.”
Some online, including Donald Trump Jr., have circulated a portion of the bill with language that would allow motions to be filed requiring “any legal process directed to the provider [for a House office]” to be “quash[ed] or modif[ied]” if “compliance with the legal process would require the disclosure of House data of the House office.”
Other provisions included in this bill are the extension of Medicare coverage for telehealth appointments and expanding policies that restrict investments into countries that pose a national security threat to the United States.
This bill would also transfer control of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium from the federal government to the district of Columbia, making it possible for the Washington Commanders football team to play in the capital.
Click Here to See the Full Legislation
Incoming leaders of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have come out in opposition to the bill, criticizing it as wasteful and inappropriate.
“I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here’s my view: it’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics,” Ramaswamy posted on X. “If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO.”
“The legislation will end up hurting many of the people it purports to help. Debt-fueled spending sprees may ‘feel good’ today, but it’s like showering cocaine on an addict: it’s not compassion, it’s cruelty,” he argued.
“The bill could have easily been under 20 pages,” said Ramaswamy. “Instead, there are dozens of unrelated policy items crammed into the 1,547 pages of this bill. There’s no legitimate reason for them to be voted on as a package deal by a lame-duck Congress.”
Musk also took to X to share his thoughts on the bill, making a series of posts in opposition to the legislation, referencing statements shared by others familiar with the bill’s contents.
House Republicans typically give lawmakers at least 72 hours to review this kind of legislation before asking them to vote on it. If this standard is adhered to, lawmakers will be deciding on this spending package Friday, the last possible day for funding to be approved and still avoid a shutdown.
Should this bill be approved, lawmakers will again take up the budget early next year ahead of the March deadline and after Republicans have taken control of both houses of Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised the bill as a bipartisan agreement “free of cuts and poison pills” that also helps to secure “Democratic priorities.”
“I am pleased these negotiations led to a bipartisan government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, while also securing Democratic priorities like millions for child care, workforce training and job placement, assistance for the Key Bridge rebuild, additional disaster relief funding and more.”
“This is the sausage making process,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), according to Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram. “Here’s here’s what this bill entails. It’s a short term funding extension until March 14th. And that would have been an easy thing relatively to pass.”
“But here’s what happened,” he continued. “We also had to add, and due to circumstances outside of any of our control emergency funding, we have two major emergencies. We had a record historic hurricane season that we all know Helene and Milton and the rest that destroyed a big swath of the country. We have to have funding for that. That’s $100 billion to rebuild six states.”
“And then on top of that, we have our farmers or small farmers and ranchers,” Speaker Johnson said. “Our food producers in this country are in jeopardy of going under permanently. They’ve had three lost years in a row, primarily because of Bidenomics and inflation and lots of other factors outside their control. So for the first time since I’ve been in Congress guys in eight years, it’s not just farmers and ranchers urgently needing to help.”
“Instead of doing, you know, Chuck Schumer and Biden spending for 2025, we push this decision into March,” Johnson added. “It’ll be March 14th. So the feature there is that we’ll have Republican controlled Congress and Trump back in the White House and we get to decide spending for 2025 that that was a good thing.”
Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, has also weighed in on Tuesday’s stop-gap bill, expressing support for the extensive piece of legislation.
“Most important, the legislative package released tonight contains a continuing resolution, which will prevent an unnecessary and costly government shutdown that otherwise would occur on Friday, December 20th, at midnight,” Sen. Collins said.
“Also included is much-needed disaster relief funding,” she continued. “Every state in the nation has faced natural disasters or severe weather events in recent years. This legislation will provide the resources to help families, small business owners, farmers, and communities in Maine and across the country recover from disasters.”
“The supplemental funding will allow for the essential repair of Coast Guard facilities that have been damaged by storms,” she added. “It will also help treat forest lands for spruce budworm in Maine and New Hampshire.”
“I look forward to passing this legislation and continuing the work of getting our annual appropriations done early next year,” Collins concluded.
Never even wondered if Collins would support this ridiculousness.
Frig*ing swamp queen
She’s one of those who hates us
Usually you have to earn a raise. These people don’t
We need storm damage relief funding because the resources we should have had available went to fund the invasion and Ukrainian genocide.
Shut it down
2.5% increase for Social Security. 70K raise for Congress. And they want us to pass this monstrosity of a bill. Susan Collins, it’s time to retire.
“The largest share of this funding — about $29 billion — will be directed toward the main disaster relief fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”
Oh joy more $ of “undocumented persons”
“You have quite a number of members of Congress that sleep in their offices,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told the same publication earlier this year. “In this day and age, it makes sense to have people that feel that they can serve, and still be able to sleep in a home at night.”
What about the people that don’t have a home because they have been taxed out of it or the or the Vets, that SERVED and have been cast aside. FU @$$#0l3
it’s time
I appreciate the security features of online machines.