The Latest on the Government Shutdown

The Week in Review Partisan rancor over government funding and immigration came to a boil last week, as lawmakers were ultimately unable to come up with an agreement to avoid the first lapse of government funding since 2013. While the House managed to pass a one-month continuing resolution (CR) — including a 6-year reauthorization of […]

The Week in Review Both chambers began their 2018 legislative work in earnest last week with the top headline being the ongoing funding negotiations to keep the government open past Jan. 19. Despite fervent behind-the-scenes discussions between lawmakers and White House officials for a long-term omnibus to set funding for the remainder of the fiscal […]

Despite fervent behind-the-scenes negotiations in Congress, the passage of another stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded past Jan. 19 is growing increasingly likely. This is primarily due to the contentious split on immigration and the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) program as rank-and-file members in both parties appear to have drawn lines […]

Government funding negotiations continue to stall, as congressional Republicans and While House officials are growing increasingly skeptical that a long term budget agreement will be reached in the next 11 days.  Party leaders from both sides of the aisle have been working to raise stiff spending caps before the Jan. 19 deadline, yet Democrats and […]

Our Take Welcome to 2018!  Hard to believe but there are only 303 days between now and the mid-term elections.   As has been the case of late, Congress starts the year looking to finish many of the issues that were punted at the end of last year – such as a long-term funding bill, a […]

Both chambers will convene this week to start their 2018 legislative work in earnest. Most policy attention will focus on funding negotiations to keep the government open past Jan. 19, with disaster aid emerging as a new divisive issue between the two parties. The House passed an $81 billion relief package before the holidays, but […]

The Week in Review The second session of the 115th Congress got off to a slow start as the House elected to take the week off and the Senate’s work was hampered by severe weather along the Atlantic Coast. The week’s most significant legislative development saw the swearing in of two new Democratic senators, Tina […]

The Week in Review The House and Senate both adjourned for the year after passing a four-week stopgap spending bill that will keep the government open until Jan. 19 and prevent $136 billion in automatic under congressional PAYGO rules. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on PAYGO to strip the […]

In an Inside Health Policy article published December 15, Thorn Run Partners Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy discusses the possibility of entitlement reform next year. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has said that Republicans plan to pass entitlement reform through the reconcilation process next year. McCarthy astutely points out that GOP leadership has been reading from the same playbook with respect […]

The conference report for the GOP-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is expected to reach the floor of both chambers today, as Republicans in Congress are poised to deliver on their promise to overhaul the nation’s tax regime for both individuals and businesses. In the Senate — where the bill will likely be passed […]

Looking Ahead Near Term The House and Senate are poised to approve the tax reform bill and if everything goes according to plan, it will be on the President’s desk by mid-week. Funding for the government expires on Friday.  A continuing resolution to punt the hard choices of what to include in a long-term spending […]

The Week in Review The twin battles over government funding and tax reform both took steps forward last week. On the funding track, a proposed continuing resolution (CR) backed by House Republicans would provide defense spending for a year and domestic spending for five weeks — an approach viewed as a non-starter in the Senate, […]