As the House of Representatives careens toward the end of another fiscal year without passing next year's appropriations bills, conservative leaders urge the House majority to maximize their leverage in the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process, by avoiding a lame duck Omnibus.
The fiscal year ends on September 30, 2024. Rather than setting up the possibility of a shutdown at the end of the year, the House should pre-emptively pass a short-term
Continuing Resolution to March of 2025. This not only avoids the legislative pile up before November, it removes the possibility of a bloated omnibus spending bill being jammed through the lame duck session. Moreover, it gives the new administration a chance to impose its priorities on a must-pass spending bill early in 2025.
Critically, a CR of this nature must not contain the appropriations side deals like the ones negotiated by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray. Rather, the CR must be tied to the 2025 levels enacted as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
There are very few major legislative items left on Congress's calendar this year, but appropriations bills are one of them. We implore the House not to waste the opportunity to manage the process in a strategic manner which limits the possibility of a lame duck omnibus, adheres to statutory limits without side deals, and allows a new appropriations process to begin in an orderly manner in 2025.
The Capitol Switchboard is (202-224-3121), we urge CHQ readers and friends to call your Representative and Senators, tell them you demand they vote NO on any lame duck omnibus that would handicap an incoming Trump administration.
