US Government Funding Deal ‘Total Failure,’ Costs $1.658 Trillion - House Freedom Caucus

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A bipartisan deal negotiated in the US Congress to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year is a total failure with a cost higher than announced by congressional leadership, the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement in opposition to the agreement.

“Don’t believe the spin. Once you break through typical Washington match, the true total programmatic spending level is $1.658 trillion — not $1.59 trillion. This is a total failure,” the House Freedom Caucus said on Sunday via social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

On Sunday, congressional leadership announced a bipartisan deal on topline appropriations, which clears the way for Congress to pass funding bills before government shutdown deadlines in the coming weeks.

The topline for fiscal year 2024 will be set at $1.59 trillion, including $886 billion for defense and $704 billion for non-defense spending, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter to colleagues. However, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that non-defense spending would be set at $772.7 billion.

In November, the US Congress passed a so-called “laddered” government funding measure, which temporarily funded separate portions of the government through January 19 and February 2.

In order to avoid a partial or total government shutdown, lawmakers must pass appropriations bills on areas including agriculture and transportation by the first date, and on areas including defense, homeland security and foreign operations by the latter date.

Last month, the House Freedom Caucus released a statement urging Congress to reduce programmatic spending year-over-year and end “disingenuous gimmicks” to conceal real spending levels.

The deal announced by Johnson and Schumer is “even worse” than the House Freedom Caucus predicted, the statement said.