The Democratic and Republican leaders of the respective House and Senate appropriations committees agreed to a framework for an omnibus spending bill, moving one step closer to a deal that would avoid a government shutdown, Politico reports.
“If all goes well, we should be able to finish an omnibus appropriations package by December 23rd,” Republican Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, the lead Republican negotiator and the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Specifics are not available, but negotiators had settled on a 10% increase in defense spending to $858 billion in earlier discussions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Tuesday that additional aid for Ukraine was included in the package, as was the Electoral Count Act, which would solidify the certification process for future presidents by closing gaps in language Donald Trump’s supporters seized on to stoke the Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on Congress on January 6th, 2021, when Congress met to certified Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.