L A. on the Record: How the city budget gets made Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• Federal Reserve says ‘lack of further progress’ on inflation will keep interest rates at 2-decade highs
• Right Wing Pressures Johnson to Abandon Spending Deal to Avert Shutdown
• ABC News Live
• Rep. Matt Gaetz continues attacks on House speaker: "No one trusts Kevin McCarthy"
• McCarthy’s plan collapses, shutdown almost certain
• What were the odds of passage? Who opposed the bill and who supported it?
• MORE: Mike Johnson earns bipartisan praise for backing Ukraine aid, suggesting his speakership is safe

The White House said spending on climate programs is down 27% since 2010, adjusted for inflation. Although presidential budgets have largely been ignored in recent years, Biden’s is likely to receive a warmer reception on Capitol Hill, where Democrats control both houses of Congress and share many of the administration’s goals. With a slim majority in the House and an evenly divided Senate, however, many of Biden’s proposals will probably be changed — a likelihood White House officials conceded. The outcome puts McCarthy’s speakership in serious jeopardy with almost no political leverage to lead the House at a critical moment that has pushed the government into crisis.

Federal Reserve says ‘lack of further progress’ on inflation will keep interest rates at 2-decade highs

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said Republicans heard from Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, who emphasized that Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, wants to unify the majority in the House. Virginia Rep. Bob Good, one of eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy, has been pushing Johnson to reconsider the deal with Schumer. Raising the debt limit used to be a nonpartisan, noncontroversial action that Congress routinely approved without much fuss. But in 2013, Republicans used the “must-pass” measure as a leverage point to extract concessions on Obamacare.

US House speaker floats two-step measure to avert government shutdown - Reuters

US House speaker floats two-step measure to avert government shutdown.

Posted: Sat, 11 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Right Wing Pressures Johnson to Abandon Spending Deal to Avert Shutdown

“The speaker was dealt with the hand he was dealt,” said Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, noting the constraints imposed by the party’s slim majority. “If your opponent in negotiation knows that you fear the consequence of not reaching an agreement more than they fear the consequence of not reaching an agreement, you will lose every time,” Good said this week. Jennifer Haberkorn covers Congress in Washington, D.C., for the Los Angeles Times. She has reported from Washington since 2005, spending much of that time roaming the halls of the U.S. Before arriving at The Times, Haberkorn spent eight years at Politico writing about the 2010 healthcare law, a story that took her to Congress, the states, healthcare clinics and courtrooms around the country. Haberkorn is a native of the Chicago area and graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.

ABC News Live

Negotiations over spending have been prolonged by House conservatives demanding steep cuts and policy changes while refusing to support any bipartisan legislation. Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to prevent a government shutdown will be considered by the House on Tuesday, according to a notice sent to lawmakers late Monday night. Though Johnson is following a similar path as McCarthy in pursuing a funding bill that maintains spending levels and does not include conservative priorities, there appears to be less of an appetite among conservative lawmakers to take action against the speaker. "That's been the framework approach that we've taken from the beginning. That'll be the lens through which we evaluate the continuing resolution today." The resolution's passage in the House all but eliminates the threat of a shutdown on Saturday, when most government funding expires.

Despite Johnson’s strategy, lawmakers warned about the threat of a brief shutdown at the end of the week given Congress’s tight schedule. House members are not slated to return to Washington until Wednesday night and the Senate could face delays if rabble-rousers like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., try to block speedy passage of a funding measure. Over the past decade, about 95,000 fewer children have been helped by Head Start, the government’s program to help disadvantaged preschoolers, because of budget restraints, administration officials said. The new funds would recoup about half of those lost slots, an administration official said. Although the spending increase for domestic programs is large, administration officials said that overall, it would restore domestic discretionary spending to roughly the average level of the past 30 years, relative to the size of the U.S. economy.

Johnson has also come under criticism as he has wrestled with how to appease his members and avoid a government shutdown in an election year. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been under pressure from his right flank to scrap a $1.66 trillion budget price tag he reached with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier this month for the spending bills. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the continuing resolution passed Thursday will facilitate that agreement, and urged colleagues to vote against it. But Republicans made it clear that they considered the deal the speaker negotiated a nonstarter, and threatened to wreak havoc in the House if he did not advance a different one. They are pressing for deep spending cuts, and many have said they cannot vote for any government funding measure that fails to include a severe crackdown on immigration. He referred to the approach as a "laddered" continuing resolution that would set different lengths of funding for individual appropriations bills.

Abcarian: The women of Trump’s GOP try to answer the question, Who’s the most macho?

House Freedom Caucus chairman Bob Good, a Virginia Republican, criticized Johnson's handling of the bill, calling it "a failure" and "terrible decision." Good seemed resigned to the appropriations bills ultimately passing if they're brought up for a vote. Without the extension, funding for transportation, housing, agriculture and veterans programs would have expired at 12 a.m. Funding for other agencies, including the Pentagon, would have lapsed on March 8. McCarthy emerged from a fast-evolving morning of meetings to say the House will vote on a 45-day short-term spending bill as soon as possible.

He said Republicans were successful in increasing defense spending far beyond Biden's request while scaling back some of the increase Biden wanted for domestic spending. Johnson, R-La., has come under heavy criticism from some Republicans for moving forward with aid for Ukraine as part of a $95 billion emergency spending package that passed this month. It would take only a handful of Republicans to remove Johnson from the speakership if the Democratic caucus went along with the effort. “House Republicans must finally do their job and work across the aisle to pass full-year funding bills that deliver for the American people and address urgent domestic and national security priorities by passing the President’s supplemental request,” Jean-Pierre said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would sign the resolution and urged Republicans to quit wasting time on partisan spending bills.

House passes bill to avoid government shutdown. Senate next - The Associated Press

House passes bill to avoid government shutdown. Senate next.

Posted: Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

MORE: Mike Johnson earns bipartisan praise for backing Ukraine aid, suggesting his speakership is safe

The bill’s complete failure a day before Saturday’s deadline to fund the government leaves few options to prevent a shutdown that will furlough federal workers, keep the military working without pay and disrupt programs and services for millions of Americans. McCarthy’s right-flank Republicans refused to support the bill despite its steep spending cuts of nearly 30% to many agencies and severe border security provisions, calling it insufficient. — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the federal government temporarily open collapsed in dramatic fashion Friday as a robust faction of hard-right holdouts rejected the package, making a shutdown almost certain.

Johnson decided to go with the combination approach, addressing concerns from GOP lawmakers seeking to avoid being presented with a massive spending bill just before the holidays. The announcement from Democrats ensures that Johnson will survive the most difficult stretch of his tenure so far, which saw him struggle through internal GOP divisions to pass government funding, the renewal of a key surveillance program and aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. To do so, Johnson was often forced to rely on votes from Democrats, creating an unusual governing coalition that has angered hard-right members who say their majority is being squandered. In the time since, congressional leaders have been working to devise the top-line spending numbers. McCarthy could never deliver on the final numbers before he was ousted after reaching across the aisle to pass a temporary measure in September and prevent a shutdown at that time.

Left out of Johnson's funding proposal is emergency assistance for Israel and Ukraine, which President Biden had requested Congress provide after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. It's unclear when Congress could act to approve the additional funding, but the speaker said approving the short-term funding measure will allow Republicans to pursue discussions on necessary oversight for Ukraine aid and provide assistance to Israel. In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is "heartened" that Johnson's proposal doesn't include funding cuts, and pledged he and McConnell would work to determine the best way to "get this done quickly" if the funding package passed the House.

Chan, who faces bribery and other charges, did not want to proceed without Braun. The federal government’s corruption trial against former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan was abruptly halted Friday after his main lawyer fell ill and went to the hospital. The budget will be largely baked during the next month and a half, as departments lobby the mayor on myriad fronts and her office and the city administrative officer hit back with the hard questions. The report suggested potential difficulties ahead, with general fund revenue projected to grow at a rate below that of inflation and the increase in city costs, among other issues. City departments submitted proposals for next year’s budget in mid-November, nearly a month before Bass assumed her role. Her office is now knee-deep in meetings with those departments, with outreach being led by Director of Policy and Budget Initiatives Joey Freeman, along with Bernyce Hollins, who started this week.

The spending caps expire on Sept. 30, providing what Shalanda Young, acting director of Biden’s Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Congress was a “unique opportunity” to begin reversing a long-term trend of declining investment in major priorities. But the budget also marks a significant departure from those submitted during much of President Obama’s tenure, when spending was constrained by caps that Congress imposed as part of a budget deal in 2011. Biden would also increase the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency by more than 20%, to $11.2 billion, in an effort to rebuild an agency that was severely depleted during Trump’s tenure. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, criticized the proposed Republican cuts as hurting law enforcement and education and taking food out of the mouths of millions.

The Senate voted 77 to 13 to approve the short-term extension that funds some government agencies for another week, through March 8, and others until March 22. Washington — The Senate followed the House in passing a temporary extension of government funding on Thursday, sending the measure to President Biden's desk after a bipartisan vote that once again averts a government shutdown. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing threats of removal from the speakership from hardline conservatives in his party — and he could be further imperiled by his last-minute effort to pass a stopgap spending bill today and avert a government shutdown. Gaetz told reporters that “whether or not McCarthy faces a motion to vacate is entirely within his control,” arguing the speaker needs to uphold his promise to house conservatives and focus on single subject spending bills. Johnson acknowledged earlier this month that there was "a growing recognition" that another stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, is needed to avert a government shutdown, adding that Republicans were considering a new approach to temporarily funding the government.

Hardline conservatives, usually loathe to support temporary spending measures of any sort, had indicated they would give Johnson some leeway to pass legislation, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, to give Congress more time to negotiate a long-term agreement. The short-term measure comes amid negotiations on a separate spending package that would provide wartime dollars to Ukraine and Israel and strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Johnson is also under pressure from the right not to accept a deal that is any weaker than a House-passed border measure that has no Democratic support. "In the days ahead, Congress must do its job and pass full-year funding bills that deliver for the American people," Mr. Biden said. "And House Republicans must act on the bipartisan National Security Supplemental, which already passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support and would pass the House if it was brought to a vote."

The bill he rolled out Saturday extends appropriations dealing with veterans programs, transportation, housing, agriculture and energy until Jan. 19. Funding for eight other appropriations bills, including defense, would be extended until Feb. 2. "The bill will stop the absurd holiday-season omnibus tradition of massive, loaded up spending bills introduced right before the Christmas recess," the Louisiana Republican said in a statement of the two-step plan. WASHINGTON - House Speaker Mike Johnson said Saturday he will seek to avoid a government shutdown next weekend with a "two-step" temporary spending plan – but his proposal drew immediate criticism from some fellow conservatives and the White House. But the lack of additional policy changes, especially those favored by conservative lawmakers, helped to secure greater support from House Democrats, who said they want to avoid a government shutdown and favored a "clean" continuing resolution.