While the Congress has yet to introduce the long-negotiated FY2018 Omnibus appropriations bill, the House is now planning on introducing the bill late today. This sets the measure up for passage by the House on Thursday, and the Senate would move for passage Friday.
Stay tuned.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the intent to release the Administration’s FY 2019 President’s Budget Request to Congress on February 12. Incidentally, that date is the Monday following the date set for the the expiration of recent CR passed earlier this week.
The release was slightly delayed because of time lost during the recent three-day government shutdown. The budget is legally required the first Monday of February, but this and past Administrations have missed the deadline. This will be the second budget by the Trump Administration.
The House has passed and President Trump has signed the CR passed earlier today by the Senate. The federal government is back open and expected to operate normally tomorrow.
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.
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.