Month: September 2024

Congress is officially in “punt formation” on government funding as both chambers are set to pass the three-month continuing resolution (CR) during today’s session. The House will hold a final up or down vote on the CR under suspension of the rules around 5:30 PM EST this evening, and the underlying measure is expected to pass with strong bipartisan support. Thanks to a “time agreement” announced by Senate leadership during yesterday’s session, the Senate will immediately begin consideration of the CR once it’s received from the House, with final passage occurring later this evening. Today’s votes are slated to be the last ones until Tuesday, November 12.

• Situational awareness. With limited floor time available and Congress well behind on key year-end items like government funding and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the “lame duck” session of the 118th Congress is set to be a sprint to the finish. Lawmakers, especially those who will not be returning to their posts next year, will be eager to wrap up bipartisan legislative deals into a potential year-end spending package to “clear the decks” before the 119th Congress gavels in. However, much remains in flux pending the outcome of the 2024 election.

Amid mounting disagreements on both sides of the aisle, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) postponed consideration of the six-month continuing resolution (CR) during yesterday’s session. House Republican leadership will now turn its attention to whipping support for the CR — which would fund the government to March 2025 and include language to restrict undocumented immigrants from voting — as there are reportedly more than a dozen GOP lawmakers opposed. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are pushing for bipartisan cooperation toward a stopgap funding deal negotiated by the “four corners” leaders of the House and Senate spending panels. However, Speaker Johnson and House GOP leaders have yet to embrace this approach as of now.

House Republican leadership is whipping support for a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded into March of next year ahead of this afternoon’s vote series, but it looks as if these efforts are going to fall short. Several House Republicans have come out against Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) proposed stopgap strategy, which includes language to restrict undocumented immigrants from voting. As of now, Speaker Johnson has stressed that he is “not looking at any other alternative or any other suggestion” with respect to the stopgap, and the final vote is currently anticipated to take place around 4:30 PM EST this afternoon. These comments come as former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has ramped up his rhetoric in support of a shutdown absent passage of the House CR.

House Republican leadership’s current plan to keep the government funded past Sept. 30 is facing resistance on both sides of the aisle. Congressional Democrats and the White House had already expressed strong opposition to the proposed continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded until March 2025, but several House Republicans have come out against the CR as well. As of now, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has insisted that this stopgap is the only plan on the table as he plans to press forward with the first procedural vote today to advance the rule. Assuming the rule passes, consideration and votes on the stopgap will occur during tomorrow’s session. Meanwhile, the Senate will be in session today for additional votes on pending judicial nominations.