Top Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress have unveiled a stopgap measure to keep federal agencies funded through March 14, avoiding a partial government shutdown that would begin on Saturday. The measure would likely keep the roughly $6.2 trillion federal budget running at its current level, funding programs ranging from the military and air traffic controllers to federal regulators for areas such as drug safety and securities markets.
The package includes $100.4 billion in new emergency funding to help states recover from devastating hurricanes, wildfires, and other recent disasters. It also includes $29 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, $21 billion for aid to farmers hit by flooding and other losses, and $10 billion in economic assistance.
The spending package also includes funding for small businesses, NASA facilities, and highway and road disaster relief, as well as a greenlight for year-round sales of gasoline with a higher ethanol blend, known as E15. Additionally, it includes over $13 million for security for U.S. Supreme Court justices at their residences.
If lawmakers fail to act in time, federal agencies would enter a partial shutdown beginning on Saturday. The stopgap measure is needed because Congress failed to pass its one-dozen annual appropriations bills in time for the current fiscal year, which began on October 1. The government’s mandatory programs, including Social Security and Medicare retirement and healthcare benefits, renew automatically, contributing to the rising federal debt, which exceeds $36 trillion.
