After agreeing to bring up a short-term continuing resolution (CR) earlier in the day that would end the three-day government shutdown, the Senate officially approved it this afternoon. The 17-day measure would keep the government funded through Thursday, February 8. The House is expected to take up the CR later today.
Category: 115th Congress
Agreement Reached on CR, Government Expected to Re-open
After a weekend and morning of negotiations among a bipartisan group of members, the Senate agreed today to move forward on a three-week continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through Thursday, February 8.
Although it does not include a fix to the DACA, which was the cause of the shutdown, a commitment today from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) paved the way for an agreement on the CR. In his remarks, McConnell made a commitment to bring a bipartisan bill that would address the DACA situation to the floor for a vote if the issue is not resolved before the expiration of the next CR, February 8.
The House is expected to take up the CR after it is cleared by the Senate.
Monday Noon
The Senate has scheduled a vote on a CR to reopen the government for Monday at noon. The CR will reportedly be the same as the previous CR, funding CHIP and eliminating the Cadillac tax, but it will not address DACA or Dreamers. To clarify, negotiations remain ongoing, and this is not a deal. Rather, it is the same bill passed by the House that failed to gain cloture in the Senate with a different date — February 9 vs. February 16.
Stay tuned.
Monday, Monday
Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) has scheduled a vote for a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would reopen the government through February 8th. The vote is scheduled for 1 am Monday morning. The move is designed to force Senate Democrats to vote against reopening the government without immigration concessions. Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) has floated the idea of a short term clean CR to continue negotiation on enacting legislation protecting Dreamers and DACA recipients. Republicans believe the vote will put Democrats in a negative position.
Stay tuned.
Shut Down Likely
At midnight tonight, the Continuing Resolution passed in December 2017 will expire. Presently, it does not look like Congress will be able to agree on a short or long term funding solution, and a shutdown is highly likely.
Agencies are circulating memos advising staff how to proceed in the high likelihood there is a shutdown and nonessential federal employees will be furloughed without pay.
OMB has just released a memorandum – Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations – that includes FAQs regarding grants and contracts (Section II, pages 3-9).
The University of Washington leadership has developed information as to impacts of a shutdown, which will occur in three major areas: research funding, student aid, and Medicare and Medicaid payments. Those impacts can be found here.
If the federal government does shut down, significant impacts will not be immediately felt by the UW community. Initial impacts will be felt by those in the research community needing to communicate with the federal enterprise such as researchers needing engagement or approval from program managers or researchers applying for grants. Impacts will be magnified if a shut down is prolonged and goes for multiple weeks.
The University does a plan in place to have adequate cash on hand from existing accounts to cover anticipated expenditures in the event of delayed federal reimbursement. We estimate that we could go at least one month, possibly more, before layoffs or contract suspensions would be initiated.
To follow developments on budget negotiations minute to minute, the Washington Post is counting down the time to midnight.
The Federal Relations team is continuing to monitor the situation and will continue to provide updates.