House and Senate leaders have agreed to extend temporary government funding in two batches, through March 1 and March 8, according to a source familiar with the plan.
The decision comes as lawmakers face a Friday, Jan. 19 deadline to clear a temporary spending bill for four of the dozen annual appropriations bills — Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD. The remaining eight bills’ stopgap funds expire after Feb. 2 under the most recent interim spending law.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed last weekend on a topline framework for the fiscal 2024 appropriations bills, which largely adhered to a deal cut last year by President Joe Biden and Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
