Congress is expected to take up today a two-week continuing resolution to keep the entire federal government operating through December 21.
The negotiations between the different sides during this additional two-week window will determine what happens after the new shutdown deadline.
Another continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded past midnight on Saturday was released yesterday. This version of the CR would keep the parts of the government funded by spending bills not yet signed into law for another two weeks, pushing the deadline to reach a deal to December 21.
With the original December 7 deadline approaching, many had been expecting a partisan showdown this week over issues like funding for a border wall. However, with Washington paying tribute to President George H.W. Bush for much of this week, it appears that the two sides will resume discussions at a future date.
Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) officially won the nod as the Democratic nominee for Speaker for the 116th Congress. The vote among Democrats was 203 to 32, with three abstentions.
With no other candidate running against her, even after a number of Democrats pledging not to back her as Speaker, her status as the Democratic nominee was not in question. However, as the Speaker must be elected by the entire House and not just the majority party, Pelosi must still go before the entire House when it convenes in January. It remains to be seen as to how many votes she’ll ultimately be able to garner in the chamber.
In addition to Pelosi’s nomination as Speaker, the House Democrats chose Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) as the Majority Leader and Majority Whip, respectively.
Both chambers of Congress return this week in an attempt to address several unresolved issues.
With respect to policy, the current continuing resolution (CR) that is funding programs and agencies supported by the seven unsigned appropriations bill runs out at midnight on December 8. Congress and the White House must come to an agreement on how to address their differences in order to prevent a partial shutdown of the government. The most high profile of these issues are the White House’s insistence on $5 billion for a border wall along the Southern border and the Congressional Democrats’ recent push on including provisions that would protect Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller in the final spending package. A host of other disagreements on lower profile must also be ironed out.
While another CR is possible, the 116th Congress, one in which Democrats will control the House, convenes on January 3. This fact may drive some of the negotiations during the lame duck session.
In preparation for the 116th Congress, the House Democrats are scheduled to elect their leadership team this Wednesday. The only remaining question about the elections is whether Nancy Pelosi will have enough support from her colleagues to return to the Speaker position. While there is no Member who has announced their candidacy in opposition to her, there seems to be some question as to how many Democrats will oppose her in the end.
Both parties in the Senate yesterday largely re-elected the same leadership teams that were in place before the elections last week.
As expected, the Senate Republicans re-elected Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Majority Leader. John Cornyn of Texas, who had to step aside as Majority Whip because of party-imposed term limits on leadership positions, was replaced by John Thune of South Dakota, who moved up from the position of Republican Conference Chair.
On the other side of the aisle, Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin retained the top two Democratic positions.
In the House, although challenged by Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the co-founders of the Freedom Caucus, Kevin McCarthy of California will serve as the Minority Leader when the 116th Congress convenes. He currently serves as the Majority Leader and there had been speculation about whether he had enough votes to succeed retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the leader of the House Republicans. McCarthy won yesterday’s vote among the Republicans 159 to 43.
The biggest uncertainty regarding party leadership races remains with the House Democrats, who will assume the majority next Congress and will not vote on their leadership team until after Thanksgiving. With a number of Democrats stating publicly before the elections that they would not support Nancy Pelosi of California, it remains to be seen whether she has the votes to become the next Speaker.