Speaker to engage in discussion with Biden regarding spending bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson informed fellow Republicans that he will be speaking with President Joe Biden on Wednesday by telephone, as reported by Punchbowl on social media. This comes as Congress is working on a funding measure to prevent a government shutdown.

Lawmakers reached an agreement on a $1.59 trillion spending deal on Sunday, setting the stage for a race among deeply divided lawmakers to pass the bills that would allocate the money before the government faces a potential shutdown later this month.

Since early last year, the House of Representatives and Senate appropriations committees have been unable to reach a consensus on the 12 annual bills needed to fund the government for the fiscal year that began on October 1, mainly due to disagreements over the total amount of money to be spent.