Congress is in Recess Until After the Election!
Last week, a government shutdown was averted with Congress passing a three-month stopgap spending bill that will fund the government through December 20th. The House cleared the legislation in a 341-82 vote, including support from 209 Democrats and 132 Republicans. All 82 “no” votes came from Republicans. In the Senate, the bill passed 78-18. However, this year’s battle over government funding is not over. There will be potentially another shutdown in December during the lame-duck session. Speaker Johnson has vowed that the House will not approve a sprawling omnibus bill, however, with a razor-thin Republican majority and pressure to fund the government and leave town ahead of the Christmas holiday that promise may not come to fruition. Finally, since the advent of the current fiscal year system, Congress has managed to pass all of its appropriations bills on schedule only four times. The last time it happened was for fiscal year 1997.