Early in the morning on Dec. 21, Congress finally passed a new Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating after the existing funding expired on Dec. 20. The vote was ultimately successful after a chaotic week in which a number of different plans were suggested and abandoned in various ways.
In the end, a government shutdown was avoided and funding is now extended through March 14. This means Congress will have time once they return in January to (hopefully) complete work on final FY 2025 appropriations bills, including education and workforce development funding. The CR also included approximately $110 billion in additional disaster relief and farm aid, a one-year extension of the Farm Bill, and an extension of some health care provisions. It did not include a provision to raise the debt limit, which had been proposed earlier in the week.
Unfortunately, as negotiations unfolded, a number of other agreed-upon provisions were also left out of the final bill, including the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which we wrote about earlier in the week and had originally been included in the deal. Congress will have to go back to work on WIOA reauthorization next year.
After passing the CR, Congress adjourned for the rest of the year, and will reconvene for their new session on January 3, when new Members of Congress are expected to be sworn in and elections will begin for Speaker of the House.
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