| | | | |  | | By Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma | With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team
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"We're already starting FY 25. Woohoo," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | ELECTION-YEAR FUNDING PROGNOSIS: BLEAK “Oh, we’re not at the end. We’re just at the beginning,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski told us from inside a closing Capitol elevator, the night the Senate cleared the final government funding package last month. After two weeks of recess rest, the Alaska Republican and her fellow appropriators will start working next week on a fresh slate of 12 funding bills, racing against a new shutdown deadline — the Oct. 1 dawning of fiscal 2025, less than six months away. Appropriators want to wrap up bipartisan funding bills more quickly, and with far less drama, than the arduous journey they just endured to close out fiscal 2024. “With a new House, it just takes time to get everything settled there. Going through this, I think the next go-round will be easier,” said Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, a top Republican appropriator. But it’s an election year. So the odds favor at least a September stopgap, and probably months more angst after that. Wait to see who wins: The last time Congress cleared final funding bills before a presidential election was 1996, almost three decades ago, when then-President Bill Clinton won a second term and Republicans retained control of both chambers. The following six cycles, lawmakers punted past both the Sept. 30 deadline and Election Day, pushing off government funding work until victors were determined at the ballot box. Here’s a refresher on the trickiness of funding the government in a presidential election year: 2020 As Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump faced off in 2020, Congress punted government funding work until after the election. Stats: After five stopgaps, Congress cleared comprehensive spending legislation in late December 2020, attached to a $900 billion pandemic relief package. Election outcome: White House flipped from Trump to Biden. Democrats held their House majority. Democrats flipped control of the Senate. 2016 Lawmakers kicked the can on government funding until after the 2016 election, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Republicans, who maintained majorities in both chambers in that election, then punted government funding work into Trump’s tenure. Stats: After three stopgaps, a final spending bill was cleared in early May of 2017, which didn’t include any of Trump’s major priorities, such as money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Election outcome: White House flipped from then-President Barack Obama to Trump. Republicans held control of the House and the Senate. 2012 As Obama ran for a second term against Republican nominee Mitt Romney,Congress cleared a lengthy six-month funding patch to push off spending work until the following spring. Then Obama won handily, and fiscal chaos headlined the whole following year, complicated by partisan sparring over sequestration cuts and the debt limit. Stats: After a six-month stopgap, Congress ended up clearing a full-year stopgap the following March, with lots of adjustments to shift the pain of sequestration. Election outcome: Obama held the White House. Republicans held control of the House. Democrats held control of the Senate. What’s next: In the House, Republicans plan to tap a new appropriations chair early next week, likely Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). And both chambers will hold more than a dozen hearings with Cabinet officials and agency heads on fiscal 2025 needs. — Jennifer Scholtes
| | | | GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE. | | | | | HAPPY FRIDAY! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Please keep your budget-focused authors in your thoughts, as we aren’t ready for fiscal 2025 appropriations hearings yet after last month’s funding slog. GO UCONN! JOHNSON LOOKS TO CLIMB ANOTHER ‘LADDER’ What’s better than one deadline to push Congress to the brink of a government shutdown? At least two, according to Speaker Mike Johnson. Given the delayed conclusion to the last appropriations cycle and a looming November election, it’s a safe bet that lawmakers will need a short-term spending patch to avoid a shutdown on Sept. 30, the next funding deadline after finally passing spending bills for the current fiscal year. And after Johnson pushed three separate times in recent months to break up a dozen government funding bills across two deadlines, the Louisiana Republican is once again eyeing a “laddered” approach. The goal? Avoiding the dreaded “omnibus,” when all 12 appropriations bills are lumped together in one massive funding bundle. Congress instead passed two separate six-bill funding packages last month that totaled $459 billion and $1.2 trillion, respectively. But conservatives still slammed the process, essentially dubbing it an omnibus in disguise. The fact that both were still largely negotiated behind closed doors and lawmakers had little time to review the legislation was more salt in the wound. Still, Johnson’s office declared victory, despite a pending ouster attempt against him over the whole episode. “Breaking Washington’s omni fever was the first step in reforming Congress’ broken budgeting process and working towards restoring regular order. Everyone claims to hate omnibus spending, but the Speaker is the one who stopped it,” a Johnson spokesperson said in a statement. That laddered approach still isn’t popular with many appropriators, who say it tees up unnecessary risk. Some lawmakers looking for leverage could be more likely to toy with the idea of a partial shutdown, arguing that it’s less damaging than gambling with cash for the entire federal government. “My understanding is that the speaker would like to do it again,” Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), who oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security, said late last month. “I think it’s tough enough to pass bills as it is, so to create more obstacles in passing these bills … I think we should just do our job and do it on a timely basis and we wouldn’t have this issue.” Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House’s top Democratic appropriator, said the staggered deadlines led to major delays. “I don’t understand. I never will,” DeLauro said of the laddered stopgap idea. “I think we created a process and structure that delayed us for six months. There was no reason to create this kind of chaos and bring us to the brink every several weeks.” — Caitlin Emma THE UPCOMING CLIFFS Government funding has finally stopped sucking up all of Congress’ legislative and political oxygen, but don’t let that fool you into believing lawmakers get a break from urgent deadlines. “We gotta get aid for Ukraine done. And then I want to see the [Federal Aviation Administration] reauthorization completed because we desperately need that done,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said on Thursday. “And then of course, the farm bill is critically important to get done, and then I don't know how much else we get done beyond that. I mean, if we can get those three things done — hallelujah.” Let’s unpack some of those deadlines:
- April: The Affordable Connectivity Program, a federal subsidy that helps 23 million households pay their internet bills, is in its last month of full funding. The program was initially launched during the pandemic and later codified by the bipartisan infrastructure law, but it lacks a long-term funding plan.
- April 19: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is set to expire. While the controversial surveillance power is meant to target foreigners abroad, it has come under scrutiny for its ability to sweep the communications of Americans. The House is expected to vote on a reauthorization next week, with an all-members briefing scheduled with Biden administration officials on Wednesday. But this issue has been an ongoing mess in the House.
- May 10: The FAA has been operating under a series of short-term extensions, the latest of which expires next month. Both chambers are still working toward a longer-term reauthorization before the deadline. The last law was enacted in 2018, running through September 2023.
- Sept. 30: Alongside federal cash, a one-year extension of the farm bill expires at the end of the fiscal year. Farm commodity support programs, which are authorized on the basis of crop years, expire on Dec. 31.
— Caitlin Emma, with an assist from Jordain Carney and Ursula Perano
| | | | YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics. | | | | | TRUMP NAMESAKE DRAMA: AIRPORT VS. PRISON Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) wasted no time in making good on his threat, introducing a bill on Friday to rename a Miami federal prison after Trump. What? Just days ago, Connolly said he’d “suggest [House Republicans] find a federal prison” to stamp Trump’s name on, after several GOP lawmakers floated renaming Dulles International Airport after the former president. Now, Connolly has filed a bill to do exactly that alongside Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), and John Garamendi (Calif.). Of course, this bill — like the Dulles renaming effort before it — has no shot at becoming law. But Connolly said in a statement: “It is only right that the closest federal prison to Mar-a-Lago should bear his name. I hope our Republican friends will join us in bestowing upon Donald J. Trump the only honor he truly deserves.” — Anthony Adragna
| | The Cannon Coffee Cart (formerly Rako) is now rebranded as Common Grounds. An espresso cart by any other name … yeah, still gets the job done. QUICK LINKS House conservatives demand steep concessions in exchange for Baltimore bridge funding, from Anthony Adragna. GOP congressman’s wild claim: FBI entrapped Jan. 6 rioters, from Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer at the The New York Times. Cardinals shuffle likely under House Appropriations shakeup, from Roll Call’s Aidan Quigley. Bipartisan $78 billion tax deal hits GOP roadblock in U.S. Senate, from Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson and Samantha Handler. The Freedom Caucus chair now wants the speaker’s help. Yes, you read that right, from Olivia Beavers. TRANSITIONS Desiree Kennedy is joining the Biden campaign as chief operations officer in North Carolina. She previously was deputy chief of staff for Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.). Kriti Korula is now a legislative fellow for Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.), handling health care. She previously was a legislative correspondent for Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas). NEXT WEEK IN CONGRESS The Senate returns from recess on Monday. The House is slated to return Tuesday.
| | THURSDAY’S ANSWER: David Nielsen of the American Council of Life Insurers, or ACLI, was the first to answer correctly that the late Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) ran 31 consecutive ACLI Capital Challenge races. TODAY’S QUESTION, from David: Which current U.S. senator holds the record for the most appearances by a female member of Congress in the ACLI Capital Challenge? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com. GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening. | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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