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Congress began leaving Washington on Thursday for the long holiday weekend without a plan for how to prevent a government shutdown next week, as a revolt over spending brewed among hard-right House Republicans. Funding for 20 percent of the government is set to expire on Jan. 19, and the rest expires on Feb. 2. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed on an overall $1.66 trillion spending deal for the 2024 fiscal year, but lawmakers won’t have time to enact it before the deadlines. So the Senate on Thursday took procedural steps to be able to pass a stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, to keep the government open while members work on long-term spending legislation. Members left town after that and are due to return on Tuesday. (Bogage and Sotomayor, 1/11)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News' 'What The Health?' Podcast: All About The (Government) Funding 

As this election year begins in earnest, making it harder for Congress to pass bills, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still struggling to fund the government for the fiscal year that began last October. And many health priorities hang in the balance. (1/11)

The U.S. Congress must raise spending on a food assistance program for low-income women and children or 2 million could be turned away this year, Biden administration officials said on Thursday. A bitterly divided Congress has for months failed to reach agreement on 2024 government spending levels and is racing to avert a partial shutdown on Jan. 19. An eventual deal should include $1 billion more for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden on a call with reporters. (Douglas, 1/11)

The Defense Department inspector general said Thursday it will investigate the mishandling of Lloyd Austin’s recent hospitalization, which the Pentagon chief and others close to him kept secret from the White House and Congress for days in an apparent breach of protocol after he developed serious complications from prostate cancer surgery. In a memo addressed to Austin, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and other officials, Inspector General Robert Storch said his staff would begin its work this month. He indicated that while the inquiry will be focused on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, its scope could broaden. (Lamothe and Alfaro, 1/11)