Congressional Spending Battle Escalates Amid Debt Deal Fallout.

House Republicans are pushing for spending levels below those agreed to in the debt limit compromise, infuriating Democrats and raising the prospect of a government shutdown this year and automatic spending cuts in early 2025. Far-right Republicans are demanding cuts that go far deeper than what President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to in the bipartisan compromise they reached last month to suspend the debt ceiling, but such reductions are all but certain to be nonstarters in the Senate. The looming stalemate threatens to further complicate a process that was already going to be extraordinarily difficult, as top members of Congress try for the first time in years to pass individual spending bills to fund all parts of the government in an orderly fashion and avoid the usual year-end pileup.