House Republicans on Saturday rolled out a 99-page stopgap funding measure covering a little over six months remaining in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, challenging Democrats to accept the bill or risk a partial government shutdown.
Current funding runs out March 14, meaning Democrats are likely facing a “yes or no” proposition on the legislation, which would erase billions of dollars’ worth of nondefense-related earmarks. Not only are thousands of home-state projects removed for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the leftover money would be cut out entirely, rather than going back to the agencies to distribute in a different way.
Along with some other targeted cuts from fiscal 2024 and rescissions of unspent dollars here and there, the combined effect is to produce a $13 billion overall cut to domestic and foreign aid programs for the duration of the long-term stopgap measure, compared to last year’s totals.
