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Shutdown stalemate looms in Congress in final weeks before Trump returns to the White House
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Shutdown stalemate looms in Congress in final weeks before Trump returns to the White House

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SPECIAL: The tumultuous two years of the 118th Congress will likely be capped by another impasse over government spending.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., signaled to Fox News Digital that Republicans are unlikely to kick off fiscal 2025 federal funding discussions into the new year.

But he repeated his oath House Republicans He will fight against packing the entire 12-year appropriations bill into one big “omnibus” package, leading to a possible showdown with Senate Democrats.

“The ideal scenario is that we reach an agreement for the remainder of the fiscal year,” Scalise said.

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Donald Trump and Steve Scalise

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise suggested that he wants Congress to regulate fiscal year 2025 financing before President-elect Trump takes office so that he can focus on current issues. (Getty Images)

He cited restrictions on national security if Congress expands fiscal year 2024 funding levels.

“When you think about defense financing, having short-term financing bills when you can’t make long-term supplies costs us money to buy the long-range defense systems we need to compete with China,” Scalise said. “China isn’t acting on short-term spending bills, and neither should we.”

Before entering the recession in September, House Republicans and Senate Democrats agreed on September 30 to expand fiscal 2024 funding levels through a method known as a continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.

Bought off congressional negotiators until December 20 to reach an agreement.

At the time, many supporters of President-elect Donald Trump had called for CR to ring in the new year in hopes of a new Republican administration taking the reins; This was something that top GOP lawmakers and national security hawks opposed.

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Xi Jinping

Scalise expressed concerns that a clean funding extension at last year’s levels could pull the United States behind China in new military technology. Pictured is Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images)

If Republicans win the House of Representatives as well as the Senate and the White House, Trump will have a say in how the GOP-controlled Congress manages spending in the fall of next year. Some House races remain undecided after Tuesday’s general election.

Scalise also touched on some other priorities that will take up a lot of time at the beginning of Trump’s term, such as the border crisis and extending the tax cuts.

But when it comes to this year’s negotiations, both sides are still far apart.

House Republicans accused Senate Democrats of slow-walking the process without introducing their own spending bills to the chamber in an effort to force the GOP to swallow a year-end “omnibus package” with overspending and little transparency.

Democrats have also criticized House Republicans’ spending bills, many of which have passed the House, for calling them “non-starters” for drastic cuts and pushing conservative policies.

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Chuck Schumer watches the United Center on Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not yet ruled out holding a multi-party election this year. (Reuters/Cheney Orr)

“We have a lot to talk about with our members about the best approach.” Scalise said. “When we left, we had passed more than 70 percent of government funding bills in the House and the Senate had passed none.”

“We’re trying to get agreements on individual bills. So the House has done our job… hopefully when we come back we can start getting those agreements.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) to see if he expects an omnibus he’s launched in the Senate later this year for nearly every year he’s been majority leader.

If an agreement is not reached by December 20, the country could face a partial government shutdown just weeks before the formation of a new presidential administration.