US congress races weather to beat government shutdown

The 4155-page ‘omnibus’ package is crammed with wish-list items that have little or nothing to do with government funding.

Chuck Schumer says the omnibus spending legislation should avert a government shutdown days before Christmas. Picture: AFP

US senators are scrambling to complete work on a sweeping $US1.7 trillion ($2.5 trillion) spending package before a massive winter storm expected to unleash chaos on airports and roads.

The government will run out of funding if Friday’s (Saturday AEDT) deadline passes with no agreement, although the threat of a damaging shutdown is only theoretical, since congress can pass a stop-gap deal to keep the lights on until next month. Senators hope to approve the package – covering the financial year ending next September – on Wednesday, sending it to the House of Representatives for a rubber stamp on Thursday.

“We must finish our work ­before the deadline of Friday midnight, but in reality I hope we can vote on final passage much sooner than that, even as early as ­tonight,” Democrat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senator floor. “There is no reason for the Senate to wait, and plenty of reasons to move quickly before a potential blizzard makes travel hazardous for members, their staff, and families right ­before the Christmas season.”

The 4155-page “omnibus” package is crammed with items from members’ wishlists that have little or nothing to do with the government funding.

One of the headline items is $US45bn in aid for Ukraine. Other add-ons include a bill tightening election law, a measure permitting students from military academies to defer their service to play professional sports and an insurance package for grounded airlines in the event of a “hostile nuclear detonation”.

It is the last significant piece of business before the 117th congress wraps up and new faces arrive next month. The 118th congress switches from one-party control to divided government, with the Democrats keeping the Senate but ceding the house to the GOP.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is calling on the party to vote against the package, arguing members will have more sway when the lower chamber flips in the new year.

A group of incoming house Republicans have even threatened to block future legislation from any of the party’s senators who vote for the funding package.

But Mr McCarthy and the hardline right wing of the house group is largely being ignored by Senate Republican leaders and around half of the rank and file.

“The reality is this kind of chest thumping and immaturity doesn’t instil confidence in their ability to lead,” Republican Senator Kevin Cramer told The Hill.

AFP