Posted on 02/03/2022 4:58:29 PM PST by 11th_VA
Congress has little more than two weeks to pass legislation that funds the government and avoids a shutdown, adding pressure to a jam-packed February.
Current government funding expires Feb.18.
Democrats are rushing to put the finishing touches on a long-term omnibus spending bill, which would fund the government throughout the 2022 fiscal year. This could be their last chance to amend spending in line with their priorities before the midterm elections, when they may lose control of Congress.
But Republicans may be happy to let the process languish, and push instead for another continuing resolution, which would fund the government in the short term and avoid a shutdown.
“[A continuing resolution] means no new programs and changing priorities aren’t accommodated,” wrote Fundstrat analyst Tom Block in a Monday research note.
The Democrats’ draft of the omnibus spending bill contains provisions for funding under-resourced communities, combatting gun violence, and boosting national security, said Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate appropriations committee, in an emailed statement.
“We’ve had differences in budget priorities before, but we’ve always sat down and negotiated,” Murphy said.
Agreeing on spending priorities won’t be easy. One of the most contentious points will be military spending, analysts say. Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act last December, which approved new spending for defense, but it still needs to approve a 2022 budget for the Department of Defense to implement the law, Block explained.
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(Excerpt) Read more at barrons.com ...
Getting a CR would also keep the baseline for next year's budget fixed. A great way to control spending.
And since it takes 60 votes to pass the budget, the GOP could keep Trump's budget for Biden's entire term.
The Rats also want to do away with the Hyde amendment and fund vaccine mandates - another reason to push for a CR.
Not a bad outcome when the Rats control the House, Senate, and Executive branch.
it does include $284 billion for another round of small-business aid through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $300-per-week federal unemployment boost for 11 weeks, a round of $600 stimulus checks for those making up to $75,000, more money for schools and hospitals, and an extension of an eviction moratorium.
The government funding portion includes $1.375 billion for 56 miles for Trump’s border wall, $5 million to create a database to track police misconduct, $153 million for programs to improve community relations with police, a 3 percent pay raise for the military and a 1 percent pay raise for the civilian federal workforce.
Hope not.
A shutdown would be a most beautiful thing . . . and the best part about it is that the Democrats won’t be able to blame the right. It was two of their own that forced their hand. Again, it is a beautiful thing!
A shutdown would be beautiful…which is why we will never get one in this country in this year.
Not that they would have the balls to do it, but what would happen to the ability to confirm a Supreme Court Justice if the government was shut down till after the election?
Here we are again. Seems we see these stories every year like clockwork.
Well, usually when the GOP is in control, the Rats refuse to agree unless they get more domestic funding, or Tax increases - "Read My Lips".
The GOP always gives in because the Defense Department says the country will be in danger if they don't get money for this or that. Just once, I'd like to see the GOP hold out for a FULL YEAR CR - keep spending at the same level for two years. In fact, keep it at a fixed level for all the Biden years - just use special appropriations for emergeny needs that both parties agree on.
I would like to see that also. We know McConnell can be tough when he wants to be, like on judicial nominations.
My response on any government shutdown since the beginning of forever has been, SHUT IT DOWN!
I’ll take a pass on my Soc Sec payments if they cut off funding to Congress salaries....
Democrats need 10 Senate Republicans to support a continuing resolution, or CR — and typically the lead appropriator has significant sway. “I’d like February,” he [RICHARD SHELBY (R-Ala.), the top GOP lawmaker on the Appropriations Committee] said nonchalantly when asked about a late-January CR. “March would suit me. April. May. … I think it gives us more time to seriously sit down.”
Republicans aren’t in any rush because they want to extend Trump-era spending and policies that are still on the books. Democrats are eager to enact their own priorities. They’re nowhere near a deal.
McConnell lays out GOP demands for government-funding deal
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned on Wednesday that Republicans won’t let full-year funding bills come up without a larger deal on government spending.
“When it comes to floor consideration, we cannot and will not start planting individual trees before we have bipartisan consensus on the shape of the forest,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.
McConnell said that in order to get a larger deal there would have to be equal levels of growth on defense and nondefense spending, as well as an agreement on keeping out provisions that Republicans view as “poison pills,” or issues that one party views as non-starters.
Democrats bristled at McConnell’s comments, with Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accusing him of “revisionist history.”
Right. CRs are not a good way to run a railroad but the alternative would be destructive and wasteful. Given the chance, rats would devastate the economy with their larcenous squandering of revenues.
Shelby told reporters that after Dec. 3, “if there’s no progress then, we could be headed for a yearly CR. A lot of people would like that. One, that keeps all the riders off, you know? Think of that from our standpoint.”
The Alabama Republican later tweeted that he “made an offer to negotiate on numbers & substance if we return to the Shelby-Leahy agreement,” which involves eliminating "poison pills" — riders that bar agencies from using funds for certain activities and provisions — and refraining from legacy riders. Legacy riders is a term that refers to language that has been carried on the bills for potentially decades.
He said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) “supported this model when the Dems were in the minority,” adding, “It is what worked then and what will work for FY22 bills.” The tweet was accompanied by a video of top Democrats previously expressing support for bills that did not include poison pill riders.
Good. Anytime there’s a “deal” in Congress, we lose.
This Ring around the rosy dance, again...
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