Congress Returns on Monday

L . Thomas Block
Key Takeaways
  • Congress returns to work next week with the first of two government-shutdown deadlines looming.
  • The House GOP has honed in on the crisis at the Southern Border as a key issue and point for negotiations, with 60 Republicans visiting the border this week for a firsthand look.
  • The White House and a bipartisan Senate group are already negotiating on a border package to be added to a spending bill with aid to Israel and Ukraine.

After a three-week break for the holidays, Congress returns to DC next week with the first of two government shutdown dates quickly approaching – January 18.  The first date is for some of the smaller departments such as the VA, Housing, Transportation, etc.  The big departments such as the Departments of Defense and of Health and Human Services (HHS) have a deadline of February 2.

On top of the budget deadlines, Congress will try to get the Supplemental Spending Bill for Ukraine, Israel and the Southern Border passed. All in all, this creates a daunting schedule for a sharply divided Congress in an election year.

Adding to uncertainty in DC is a renewed commitment by House Republicans to fight for tougher action on the Southern border.  In a well-publicized trip, a group of 60 Republican House members led by Speaker Mike Johnson went to the Southern border this week to see firsthand the chaos that is occurring.  In fact, as the delegation was holding a press briefing, a family of five walked across the Rio Grande River within camera range of the briefing. (Border Patrol agents promptly detained the five.)

While the White House and a bipartisan Senate group have been negotiating for weeks on a border package to add to the Supplemental Spending Bill, House Republicans have threatened to use the border issue as a negotiating point on government spending and to force a government shutdown if necessary to bring the White House and Senate Democrats to the table.

House Republicans are aggressively pushing for their immigration bill – HR 2 – which passed the House on a party line vote with all Democrats opposing.  Texas officials report that some days they detain over 10,000 illegal migrants, handing Republicans a potent issue.

In addition to all these pressing issues, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire head to their caucuses and primary election in the next few weeks.

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L . Thomas Block
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