Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Congress could be embroiled in a protracted fight over 2022 government funding legislation due to major differences with Democrats over spending levels and policy provisions.
The Kentucky Republican dismissed the possibility that lawmakers could come to an agreement on a yearlong spending measure by a Dec. 3 deadline and said he instead anticipates a stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution lasting into 2022 will be necessary to keep the government open.
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“I think we’re looking at a continuing resolution into, potentially, sometime next year if we can’t agree on these provisions that have always been carried on a bipartisan basis in government funding bills,” McConnell said.
Democrats and Republicans are battling over the spending levels and policy provisions in some of the spending bills.
While House Democrats can pass spending bills with a simple majority vote, Senate Democrats need approval from at least 10 Republicans to advance the legislation.
So far, Democrats are going it alone.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont recently introduced a bill including most of the fiscal 2022 legislation, and none of the bills were negotiated with the GOP.
The bills include a provision that would end a decades-old ban on taxpayer money for abortions, and the measures end a long-established agreement that defense and nondefense spending get equal funding.
The Democratic measures increase domestic spending by 14%.
The measure also cuts “core border security funding” despite the current illegal immigration crisis along the southern border.
Republicans say the bill is laden with “poison pills” and irresponsible spending.
“Chairman Leahy’s decision to unilaterally unveil partisan spending bills is a significant step in the wrong direction,” Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the panel, said.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, wrote to fellow party lawmakers arguing against passing a full-year continuing resolution, which essentially funds the government at 2021 levels.
She blamed the GOP for the gridlock.
“We continue to await House and Senate Republicans coming to the table with a proposal as a next step in the process to reaching an agreement on appropriations,” DeLauro said.
The fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, and the government is now operating under a continuing resolution that expires on Dec. 3. That’s also the deadline Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set for Congress to pass a long-term increase in the federal borrowing limit.
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Democrats also plan to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.85 trillion social welfare spending bill by Christmas, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“It’s a huge agenda,” Schumer said.
