Both chambers of Congress return to DC this week after their Thanksgiving recess last week and face a long “to-do” list.
The Senate is currently expected to bring up its version of a tax bill this week and there is still uncertainty about its fate. President Trump and the Congressional Republicans have set out the December holiday period as their self-imposed deadline for signing into law tax reform legislation. The House passed its version on a nearly partisan vote just before recessing for Thanksgiving, with 13 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposing the bill.
It still remains to be seen at this point whether there is enough Republican Senate support to get a bill passed. No Democrats are currently expected to support the bill, and further complicating the process are the push to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act individual health insurance mandate as well as the concerns of a handful of Senators about the impact of the bill on the federal debt.
Even though FY2018 started on October 1, none of the 12 individual funding bills have been signed into law and the government is currently operating under a temporary funding measure that expires at midnight, December 9. Part of the delay in finalizing the final budget for FY2018 is due to the lack of an agreement on how much total funding is available for the year. Negotiations are currently taking place between the senior leaders in both chambers and representatives from the Administration about the top line funding levels for the rest of this year and potentially for next year. Another short-term temporary package to keep the government funded past the December 9 deadline will most likely be needed to buy more time for the negotiators.
At the same time, there are discussions underway, at least among Congressional Democrats, about trying to tie a legislative fix on DACA/Dreamers to the end-of-the-year funding package. Several Democrats have been very vocal about their support for such a move.
Potentially complicating the “to-do” list further is the sexual harassment controversies that have surfaced recently in both chambers.