Negotiations to craft a 10-week continuing resolution (CR) continued throughout the weekend as Congressional Leadership worked to nail down an agreement ahead of a Monday night procedural vote in the Senate. At 5:30 pm tonight, the Senate is scheduled to take a procedural vote, a cloture vote, intended to move forward with the package. It should be noted that Senate Leadership announced and planned on having a vote on this package last week, before it became clear a final bill was not yet reached.
While Republicans and Democrats are getting close to an agreement, sticking points remain with the package. Those issues include:
- language within a Zika virus response package related to Planned Parenthood services in Puerto Rico,
- offsets for the new $1.1 billion for anti-Zika spending, and what those offsets would be, if at all, from the $750 million in offsets from the Zika conference report;
- provisions within the Zika legislation related to pesticide spraying should be exempt from the Clean Water Act;
- including emergency flood relief for Louisiana and how much, which has been complicated by a Democratic push to pair flood money with aid for Flint, MI; and
- and unrelated policy riders dealing with the Export-Import Bank, a federal transfer of certain internet oversight functions and more.
As a reminder, Congress has until September 30 to pass the continuing resolution and avert a partial government shutdown when FY 2016 funding expires. The FY 2017 measure is expected to adhere to FY 2016 spending levels and run through December 9, one week before Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the December holidays.
The Senate is expected to use the FY 2017 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (HR 5325), which previously passed the House, as a vehicle for the CR. The spending package is also expected to include full-year FY 2017 appropriations for veterans programs and military construction projects.
If the measure passes on Monday, expect the Senate to recess until after the election Thursday or Friday. If the Senate passes and leaves, that forces the House into a take it or leave it position with the CR that the Senate passes, meaning pass the Senate bill or shut down the federal government just before an election. And shutting down the government was not very popular last time it happened.
Keep in mind, this fight will continue next year and play into a larger spending argument, as the nation’s debt limit will be reached in March of next year. The battle could begin as early as March, when the current suspension of any debt limit — negotiated as part of a bipartisan budget deal last year — is set to expire. But Congress could punt the decision for several more months, because of the Treasury’s ability to use financial mechanisms to continue borrowing past the March 15 deadline into the fall.