On Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, the House and Senate advanced the American Relief Act, 2025 (H.R. 10545), a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the federal government until March 14, 2025. The CR also contains a temporary reauthorization of the Farm Bill, funding for disaster aid and certain health care extenders. The House advanced the bill 366-34, with one member voting present, and the Senate quickly passed the bill 85-11.The CR averts a government shutdown and allows the incoming unified Republican government to set overall spending levels for fiscal year (FY) 2025 in the new year.
Ahead of the Dec. 20 funding deadline, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) first advanced a compromise CR (H.R. 10445) on Dec. 18 that included outbound investment restrictions, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform and numerous other provisions. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk called on Republican lawmakers to reject the deal negotiated with Democrats and to put forward a narrow bill (H.R. 10515) that resembles the enacted CR, with the addition of a debt limit suspension until 2027. The vast majority of House Democrats and 38 Republicans voted down the second CR on Dec. 19 in a 174-235 vote.
CR Provisions
The CR is largely a clean extension of FY 2024 funding, with a few exceptions and modifications for technical budgetary issues. The CR also carried a slim group of extensions and authorities, including:
- Disaster Aid: The measure provides $100.4 billion for disaster relief efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters. The CR includes $29.0 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund, $21.0 billion for Department of Agriculture programs, $12.0 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and $2.2 billion for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) disaster loans program account.
- Farm Bill: The CR extends the current Farm Bill authorization for one year, including crop insurance and other vital programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The extension also includes $10 billion in economic assistance for farms whose crop returns were lower than the cost of production in 2024.
- Health Care Provisions: The measure extends
funding for Community Health Centers (CHCs), the National Health
Service Corps, the Special Diabetes Program and teaching health
centers that operate graduate medical education (GME)
programs.
Next Steps
In the new Congress, appropriators will be tasked with finishing FY 2025 appropriations under the unified Republican government by March 14, 2025. Additionally, President-elect Trump and his administration will look for ways to use impoundment and rescissions to cut programs around the federal government as the administration finishes FY 2025 funding in the spring and evaluates its priorities for FY 2026 appropriations.
Congress will also have to address the debt limit, as the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) suspended the debt limit until Jan. 2, 2025. The Treasury Department will then begin deploying "extraordinary measures," with the agency projected to exhaust its resources around June 2025.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
