Congressional negotiators late Monday announced an agreement on a massive government funding bill that would keep the government running through Sept. 30, 2014.
Congress must pass the bill by midnight Wednesday to prevent another government shutdown. However, lawmakers are expected to pass a temporary three-day funding measure that would extend the shutdown deadline to midnight Saturday.
The agreement was based on the $1.012 trillion government budget for fiscal year 2014 agreed upon by the deal reached by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in December.
“This agreement shows the American people that we can compromise, and that we can govern. It puts an end to shutdown, slowdown, slamdown politics,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said in a statement.
The Senate passed the budget deal on Dec. 18, 2013, giving appropriators less than a month to finish the enormous bill by Wednesday's deadline. The government funding bill is called an 'Omnibus' because it wraps all 12 appropriations bills into one, a feat which usually takes months.
"To put together a bill of this magnitude and size in a month with the holidays intervening has been a real, real grind, especially on staff," Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said last week. "But that's an awfully short span of time to put together a bill of this size and magnitude and complexity in a divided government."
