Lawmakers ‘may slip by a day’ in releasing text on emergency spending bill

The details surrounding the emergency spending bill are expected to be delayed and may “slip by a day” as the deadline to avoid a government shutdown looms.

Lawmarkers were expected to share the text of the emergency spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and address disaster relief on Sunday, but Fox News is told the text “may slip by a day.”

It comes as both House and Senate lawmakers negotiate over how large the disaster aid package should be, and whether it should be attached to an end-of-year federal funding bill that’s critical to avoiding a partial government shutdown during the holiday season.

This could pose a problem because government funding expires at 11:59:59 p.m. on Friday. Pushing this back means the House may not be able to process the bill until the end of the week. 

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Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene damage. (National Weather Service)

It is also noted that it doesn’t take much for the Senate to slow things down if senators demand time. 

The House has a so-called “three-day rule” which requires text to be posted for three days before debate and vote. However, waiting until tomorrow means the House may not consider the bill until Thursday or Friday – the peak of the deadline. 

Fox News is told there are no hold-ups with government funding, through mid-March, or the disaster package for Hurricanes Helene, Milton, wildfires in Maui, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore and tornadoes in the Midwest, but that there is an issue with agricultural provisions “and other things important to leaders on both sides.”

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President Biden wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson about disaster aid after Helene and Milton. (Getty Images)

One source declined to answer when Fox was asked if there was an effort to tuck last-minute provisions into the catch-all measure for Syria or drones. 

In early October, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital that Helene would likely be “one of the most expensive storms that the country has ever encountered.”

The Biden administration has asked for over $100 billion in funding for disaster aid in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling on Republican leaders to reject President Biden’s disaster aid request.

President Biden, accompanied by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (R), gives an update on the government’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on October 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C.

The group is demanding a slimmed-down package covering what is “absolutely necessary,” to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

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“Congress should not pass a whopping $100 billion unpaid disaster supplemental funding bill — that Democrats will use to cement their own unrelated priorities — in the waning days of Democrat control in Washington right before Republicans take control of the White House and both Chambers,” the House Freedom Caucus statement read.

“The House should consider only what is absolutely necessary right now to provide critical relief to hurricane victims and farmers, and pay for it with offsets from wasteful spending elsewhere in the government, then wait for President Trump to take office to better manage disaster relief.”

If new spending is not approved by way of appropriations bills or a stopgap measure, a partial government shutdown could happen before Christmas. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.