Lawmakers Reach Spending Deal Needed To Avert Partial Shutdown

The Washington Post: Congress Has A Deal To Fund The Government And Not Much Time To Pass It
Congressional leaders reached a $1.66 trillion agreement Sunday to finance the federal government in 2024, preserving funding for key domestic and social safety net programs despite GOP demands to cut the budget. Now lawmakers are up against a stiff deadline to pass legislation to codify the deal and avert a partial government shutdown in less than two weeks. Funding runs out for roughly 20 percent of the government — including for essential programs such as some veterans assistance, and food and drug safety services — on Jan. 19, and money for the rest of the government runs out shortly after that, on Feb. 2. (Bogage, 1/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Congressional Negotiators Reach Agreement On $1.6 Trillion Government Spending Level For 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson said the deal contains “hard fought concessions” from Democrats, including on the cancellation of unspent pandemic aid. Still, the overall number is above the levels that some conservatives had demanded. “These final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like,” Johnson said. (Ferek and Hughes, 1/7)

Defense Chief Lloyd Austin, hospitalized for a week, faces scrutiny from Congress —

USA Today: Lloyd Austin Takes Blame For Hospitalization, Kept White House In Dark
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged ''concerns'' over his secret hospitalization but revealed no new details of his condition in a statement released by the Pentagon Saturday. It wasn't until late Friday that the Pentagon disclosed that Austin had been hospitalized after complications from an elective procedure. In the statement, Austin said he "could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better." (Vanden Brook, and Collins, 1/6)

NPR: Pentagon's 2nd In Command Was Not Informed Of Lloyd Austin's Hospitalization
Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of defense, assumed the top role on Jan. 2, a not unusual transfer of power that sometimes occurs purely for operational reasons. She did not learn of Austin's hospitalization until Jan. 4, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time. ... The defense secretary resumed his full duties on Friday. In the intervening days, Hicks "was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required," Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement on Friday. (Doubek and Bowman, 1/7)

Politico: ‘He’s A Cipher’: How Austin’s Need For Privacy Just Backfired 
“My sense is his desire to be private about a routine medical procedure kind of backfired when it didn’t go as planned,” said one senior U.S. official. ... Concerns over Austin’s absence are bipartisan. Though most members of Biden’s party have either defended Austin or declined to comment on it, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee teamed up with his GOP counterpart to urge the Pentagon chief to provide more information. (Seligman, Ward and O'Brien, 1/7)

Dr. Anthony Fauci is on Capitol Hill today —

The Hill: COVID Subcommittee Chair Says ‘Honesty Is Nonnegotiable’ In Upcoming Fauci Interview 
Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci will once again face questions on the origins of COVID-19, vaccine mandates and how to prevent something like the COVID-19 pandemic from happening again in his upcoming closed-door congressional interview, according to the chair of the committee leading the investigation. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic announced in November that Fauci had agreed to a 2-day transcribed interview on Jan. 8 and 9. He will also testify in front of the panel later this year, with the date still to be determined. (Choi, 1/2)