Congressional CR funds government until March

Congress wrapped up its final week in session before the holidays on Dec. 20, and there was no shortage of eleventh hour shenanigans, with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson having to pivot twice to avoid a government shutdown just hours before it would begin.

In the end, Congress was able to pass multiple pieces of critical legislation including the Water Resource and Development Act reauthorization (WRDA), National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the Continuing Resolution (CR) in the same week before Congress’ scheduled adjournment.

The original proposal that Johnson brought forth as the CR was torpedoed when Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump said they would “Primary anyone that voted yes.” Trump added that Congress must raise the debt limit in the CR – which would alleviate a potential political landmine for him during his first months in 2025. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wasn’t shy in his response to that request, saying “hell no” to Trump’s proposal and keeping Democrats away from supporting the proposed package. In the end, no one got everything they wanted – but Congress kept the lights on and delivered critical funding for disaster relief.

The CR passed under suspension of the Rules, requiring the Bill to receive a two-thirds majority in the House – in the Senate, 60 votes were required, which were easily achieved when the Bill passed 85-11 with 4 members not-present.

The CR funds the government through mid-March, when another funding fight is likely to take place. It also provides $110 billion dollars for critical disaster relief funding including funding for regions impacted by devasting natural disasters like Hurricanes Milton and Helene. NAPA supported the disaster relief provisions of the legislation because a significant portion of that funding will be allocated to rebuilding the road networks that were washed out in these storms, particularly in Western North Carolina; the North Carolina Department of Transportation expects the infrastructure damages to exceed $10 billion dollars.

The bill was also used to provide $31 billion to farmers that have been plagued by high input costs and low commodity prices, a notable sticking point for corn-state Republicans in the House.

“Although I was disappointed it took so long to come together, I was glad to see the House reach an agreement that was palatable for a vast majority of lawmakers. It’ll be interesting to see how the CR impacts the Speaker vote on Jan. 3. Speaker Johnson is skating on thin ice with a minority of the caucus – and there is practically no room for error. He already lost one vote in Thomas Massie. He can’t lose another.” Baldwin said.

NAPA also supported the passage of WRDA, which normally funds the nations water projects, however, this bill included provisions which allowed over $1.5 billion dollars in unobligated TIFIA loans to help states shore up their surface transportation systems.

“Typically the biannual WRDA package isn’t focused much on surface transportation projects, however, we were relieved to see this WRDA package include technical corrections to help obligate unused TIFIA loans for various State DOTs. Had Congress not acted, we could’ve seen a backlog of federal funds in the billions never come to fruition and create additional fiscal headaches. NAPA supported this technical execution as we know all too well how vital it is to use every available federal dollar for our nation’s surface transportation system.”  Elam said.