Congress Expected to Pass Temporary Budget by Nov. 21

Thursday, November 21, is the deadline for Congress to pass legislation to ensure that there is no government shutdown. It is widely expected that Congress will pass another Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep funding at current spending levels. As is often the case in Washington under President Trump, there is always some level of uncertainty as the President views unpredictability as an important management tool.

Secretary of Treasury Mnuchin has had talks this past week with all the key players on Capitol Hill and has stated that the President is ready to pass a “clean” CR that has no policy riders.

With respect to all budget issues, including the upcoming CR, the President’s desire to build the wall on the Southern border is always part of the conversation. The general assumption is that the CR will be silent on the wall thus allowing the Administration’s current funding plans to continue. December 20 is the anticipated new deadline for government spending that is expected to be set in the legislation to be passed next week.

Meanwhile, the impeachment process rattles on. Speaker of the House Nance Pelosi is trying to find some issues where the House Democrats can demonstrate that they can work on bipartisan basis even with the friction caused by impeachment. This past week there seemed to be movement on the idea that Congress could act on the revised NAFTA treaty, the so-called USMCA.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been actively negotiating with House Democrats and there appears to be movement which would allow for a vote this year. It is a great issue to find compromise as the President is fully committed to the treaty and his desire to get it passed might overcome his building enmity towards the Democrats over impeachment.

In order to support the treaty Democrats need to shore up support from their allies in labor, but few dispute that the renegotiated treaty is better than the existing one.

Congress Expected to Pass Temporary Budget by Nov. 21
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