Steptoe is tracking the fast-moving developments in the federal appropriations process on behalf of our clients. Below are the top developments you need to know.

The Topline:

With just two session weeks remaining before Congress heads home for the holidays, negotiations on topline funding levels for FY24 continue. On Thursday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent a "Dear Colleague" reiterating his intent to reach a year-long agreement and avoid short-term continuing resolutions, and emphasized that the totals agreed upon in this summer's bipartisan debt ceiling deal provide the framework for which they are negotiating.

This letter comes after Speaker Johnson sent an offer to Senate Democrats on a possible funding agreement, though the Speaker has yet to receive a counteroffer. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) has expressed frustration about the lack of progress on talks, saying that negotiators are "absolutely stuck" and warned that anything short of the totals laid out under this past summer's bipartisan debt limit deal would be reneging on the prior agreement between the two chambers. Chair Murray also warned that a yearlong continuing resolution would be a "nonstarter" for Democrats.

Similarly, negotiations on supplemental aid funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the border have reached an impasse, with talks breaking down this week. Negotiators are trying to breathe life into talks, with plans to regroup this weekend on a path forward. President Biden has attempted to support the talks by signaling he would be open to making "significant compromises" in order to find a deal to unlock aid.

House:

  • Dec. 7 - Speaker Mike Johnson sent a "dear colleague" letter to House lawmakers, with an update on "the ongoing negotiations" toward enactment of "full-year" fiscal 2024 funding bills before the next shutdown deadlines hit in January and February. "I do not intend to have the House consider any further short-term extensions," Johnson reiterated. The bipartisan debt limit agreement "is the law of the land," the speaker said, "and it provides the framework from which we are negotiating final outcomes." Letter
    • Related: Top House Republicans continue to talk privately today about their strategy for negotiating a fiscal 2024 funding deal with Democrats. And those discussions are much more grounded in political reality of late, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) says. Politico Pro
  • Dec. 7 - House Ukraine skeptics lay out hardline demands amid Senate border talks. The Hill
  • Dec. 5 - Negotiations among congressional leaders over spending limits for fiscal 2024 appropriations are moving at a glacial pace, sources familiar with the talks say, calling into doubt lawmakers' ability to enact final bills early next year without another stopgap spending measure. CQ

Senate:

  • Dec. 7 – The Senate Appropriations Committee released a memo detailing the implications of a date-change, full-year CR. Memo
    • Related: In a worst-case scenario if Speaker Mike Johnson carries out his threat of a yearlong continuing resolution, large-scale furloughs of federal workers, contract cancellations and severe disruptions in a range of government services are likely, according to Senate Appropriations aides. CQ
  • Dec. 7 - A partisan clash between Senate Republicans and Democrats over border policy continues to threaten the effort to send badly needed foreign aid to key US allies as time and money are running out for Ukraine. CNN
  • Dec. 6 - Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray says "we're absolutely stuck" on fiscal 2024 funding work right now, as aides for Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talk privately about topline funding levels. Politico
  • Dec. 6 - The Senate's top Democratic appropriator is warning that accepting Speaker Mike Johnson's fallback idea for government funding would be "absolutely devastating" for federal agencies and families across the country if bipartisan spending negotiations falter. "It's dangerous and a non-starter," Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray said in an interview on Wednesday. Politico
  • Dec. 5 - Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released the text of a nearly $111 billion emergency funding package on Tuesday that would deliver aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and priorities at the southern border. The package is $5 billion more than the total President Joe Biden requested earlier this year, adding money to combat fentanyl and provide security at places of worship. Bill Text; Politico
  • Dec. 5 - When the bipartisan debt limit deal was signed into law last spring, its prescription for cuts and caps seemed most threatening to the defense side of the ledger. But discretionary spending levels aren't totally static. And now that CBO has revised a couple times as the government runs on stopgaps, lawmakers are beginning to realize the heightened threat to non-defense accounts if Congress doesn't enact fresh, full-year funding levels (not stopgaps of any flavor). Politico
  • Dec. 5 - Senate Budget Committee Republicans are urging the panel's chairman, Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, to switch the committee's work back from climate change — where it's been of late under Whitehouse's leadership — to its more traditional focus on deficits and debt. CQ

Administration:

  • Dec. 6 - Biden willing to make 'significant compromises' on border policy amid fight for Ukraine funding. The Hill
    • Related: The White House delivered a dire warning to congressional leaders Monday that time is running out for lawmakers to approve more assistance to Ukraine — sounding the alarm that Kyiv's battlefield gains against Russia are at risk without more money. In letters Monday to party leaders in the House and Senate, White House budget chief Shalanda Young warned that inaction before the end of the year on a new round of funding threatens to "kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield." Letters; Politico Pro

Next Week

Hearings

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