Oh Great: Congress Has One Week to Prevent a Government Shutdown
Friday was a busy day in Washington  DC. The Senate was preparing to vote on a major tax bill that was still being negotiated at the same time former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was pleading guilty to lying to federal agents as part of a deal to cooperate with Robert Muellerâs probe into the  Trump  campaign. And looming over all of this is yet another potential crisis: On December 8  the federal government will run out of money unless Congress acts fast.
The government was initially set to run out of funding on September 30. But at the start of that month   Donald Trump  struck a surprise deal with Democratic leaders in Congress to fund the government through December 8. The plan at the time was ostensibly to free up time to work on tax reform  handle any other pressing issues  and gradually work out a deal to fund the government through September 2018. Then Republicans wasted September on a futile attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  and tax reform got complicated real fast.
Those big-ticket items mean that other priorities are being pushed aside in the hope that they could be wrapped into a funding deal. That includes: funding for the Childrenâs Health Insurance Program (CHIP)  which has been running on fumes since Congress failed to renew it in late September; restoring protections that  Trump  scuttled in September for around 800 000 âDreamers â undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children; stabilizing the ACAâs individual markets after  Trump  said  he âd stop paying a key subsidy to insurers in October; providing a third tranche of disaster relief funding for communities hit by the summerâs hurricanes and wildfires; and reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program  a major National Security Agency surveillance program  and a number of other federal programs.
That seemed to fall apart on Tuesday morning. Just before a major negotiation session between Trump and congressional leaders from both parties  the president fired off a brash tweet saying that he didnât see any possible deal and insulting the Democrats. The Democrats pulled out of the meeting  and now even progress towards an agreement on top-line spending numbers has stalled out.
But pushing a final funding bill into 2018 just increased pressure to tackle controversial issues by December 8. Many Democrats and some Republicans are unwilling to end 2017 without fixes for CHIP  protections for Dreamers  and disaster relief. They do not trust Trump or Republican leaders to make good on any promises to handle those issues without the pressure of a CR to attach it to.
As usual  no one really knows how  Trump  will react to all this.  The president  seems more willing to risk a shutdown than almost anyone in DC.  He  seems to believe  he  risks more by striking deals with the Democrats  like  he  did in September  and that  he  can fully blame any funding shenanigans on the Democrats. âThe president in these processes is a wildcard â said Harkins.
Friday was a busy day in Washington  DC. The Senate was preparing to vote on a major tax bill that was still being negotiated at the same time former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was pleading guilty to lying to federal agents as part of a deal to cooperate with Robert Muellerâs probe into  [TGT] . And looming over all of this is yet another potential crisis: On December 8  the federal government will run out of money unless Congress acts fast.
The government was initially set to run out of funding on September 30. But at the start of that month    [TGT] struck a surprise deal with Democratic leaders in Congress to fund the government through December 8. The plan at the time was ostensibly to free up time to work on tax reform  handle any other pressing issues  and gradually work out a deal to fund the government through September 2018. Then Republicans wasted September on a futile attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  and tax reform got complicated real fast.
Those big-ticket items mean that other priorities are being pushed aside in the hope that they could be wrapped into a funding deal. That includes: funding for the Childrenâs Health Insurance Program (CHIP)  which has been running on fumes since Congress failed to renew it in late September; restoring protections that   [TGT] scuttled in September for around 800 000 âDreamers â undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children; stabilizing the ACAâs individual markets after   [TGT]   said   [TGT]  âd stop paying a key subsidy to insurers in October; providing a third tranche of disaster relief funding for communities hit by the summerâs hurricanes and wildfires; and reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program  a major National Security Agency surveillance program  and a number of other federal programs.
That seemed to fall apart on Tuesday morning. Just before a major negotiation session between  [TGT]  and congressional leaders from both parties  the president fired off a brash tweet saying that he didnât see any possible deal and insulting the Democrats. The Democrats pulled out of the meeting  and now even progress towards an agreement on top-line spending numbers has stalled out.
But pushing a final funding bill into 2018 just increased pressure to tackle controversial issues by December 8. Many Democrats and some Republicans are unwilling to end 2017 without fixes for CHIP  protections for Dreamers  and disaster relief. They do not trust  [TGT]  or Republican leaders to make good on any promises to handle those issues without the pressure of a CR to attach it to.
As usual  no one really knows how   [TGT] will react to all this.  The president  seems more willing to risk a shutdown than almost anyone in DC.  He  seems to believe  he  risks more by striking deals with the Democrats  like  he  did in September  and that  he  can fully blame any funding shenanigans on the Democrats. âThe president in these processes is a wildcard â said Harkins.