Speaker Johnson announces spending deal to avert shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday said Congressional leaders reached a topline spending deal to avert a federal government shutdown by providing funding through the rest of the fiscal year.

The Louisiana Republican leader made the announcement Sunday in a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of Congress after reaching a deal with the White House and the Senate, The Hill reported.

The topline deal allocates $1.590 trillion for the rest of fiscal year 2024, which will last through September. It includes $886 billion for defense and $704 for nondefense spending, Johnson said in the letter. 

Both the House and the Senate are set to return from winter break this week as the first batch of funding is set to expire next week and the remaining government funding batch scheduled to expire on Feb. 2.  

Conservative Republicans, such as those in the House Freedom Caucus, had voiced concerns that the spending bill would obscure the actual amount being allocated, and Johnson addressed this in his letter. 

"As has been widely reported, a list of extra-statutory adjustments was agreed upon by negotiators last summer. The agreement today achieves key modifications to the June framework that will secure more than $16 billion in additional spending cuts to offset the discretionary spending levels," Johnson wrote.  

The deal also "results in an overall $30 billion total reduction from the Senate’s spending plans," Johnson said. 

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