By Katharine Jackson and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. congressional negotiators reached a tentative deal on Tuesday on a stopgap funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown, provide about $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion to farmers, Republican lawmakers said.
A Democratic source familiar with the talks confirmed the outline of the tentative deal.
Congressional aides were preparing legislation that could be unveiled in the House of Representatives as soon as Tuesday and be ready for votes later in the week. The Senate aims to then pass it before current funding runs out at midnight ET Friday (0500 GMT Saturday) and promptly send it to President Joe Biden to sign into law.
The measure would largely keep the roughly $6.2 trillion federal budget running at its current level, funding everything from the military to air traffic controllers to federal securities markets regulators.
The bill “is coming together. Bipartisan work is ongoing. We’re almost there,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at a press conference.
Johnson leads a narrow and restive 219-211 Republican majority and has repeatedly over the past year had to rely on Democratic support to pass major legislation.
Representative Pete Aguilar, the No. 3 House Democrat, told reporters that his colleagues want to carefully read the deal that was negotiated.
“We want to see the details,” he said. “We hope that Speaker Johnson puts this out soon so that we can vote. … We want to make sure the numbers are right.”
Representative Chip Roy, a hardline Republican who typically opposes new spending bills, derided the deal.
“Swamp is going to swamp, right?” he said. “This is not the way to do business.”
Johnson said the bill would include $10 billion in economic aid for farmers.
Republican Representative Glenn Thompson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, welcomed the assistance, as wide-ranging farm programs were set to expire at the end of the year.
“The $10 billion is a great start, and I think it’s going to send the right signals to the market that most farmers and ranchers are going to be able to get eligible to the credit that they need to borrow in order to plant a crop or raise a herd,” Thompson said.
Republican Representative Pete Sessions told Reuters that the measure also contains around $100 billion in funding for hurricane, wildfire and other natural disaster recovery efforts.
Reuters reported on Monday that the legislation would keep government funding flowing through March 14.
Congress’ failure to address the gap between federal revenue and spending has contributed to the rising national debt – currently north of $36 trillion.
Congress will have to address that again early next year, when a 2023 deal to extend the nation’s “debt ceiling” expires. Failure could shock bond markets with potentially severe economic consequences.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Porter)