Today is Monday, December 23rd, and you're listening to the morning announcements presented by

Betches Media. I'm your host, Sammy Sage, and the morning announcements is your daily five-minute

breakdown on the headlines that isn't a megaphone for the loudest voices, but a magnifying

glass for the most important news.

The federal government just barely avoided a shutdown on Friday night after the House and

Senate rushed through a bipartisan budget that will temporarily fund federal operations through

March 14th, as well as provides $100 billion in disaster relief and extends the farm bill for one

year. President Biden signed the budget legislation,

which passed 366 to 34 in the House and 85 to 11 in the Senate on Saturday evening.

Notably, Donald Trump's last-minute attempt to get Congress to either extend the debt limit

for two years or eliminate it altogether did not make it into the legislation.

You win some, you lose some, you know.

In other news out of Congress, we learned this weekend that 81-year-old Republican Congresswoman

from Texas, K. Granger, has been absent from her job since July because she's been living in an assisted

living facility for people with dementia.

Granger technically retired at the end of this term, but for the past two years, she has been

the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, in name only clearly.

So that is the latest with the Congressional Retirement Caucus.

But speaking of caucuses, five Republican senators have set up a new one in the Senate.

We Make America Healthy Again Caucus, which announced its stated purpose,

is to implement legislation that's in line with the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,

who Donald has nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

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