Busy Week Ahead in DC
- House Republican majority to shrink again with planned departure of Colorado's Ken Buck.
- Next Friday will see another government-shutdown deadline, with funding for six major federal departments as yet unresolved.
- The thorniest and most difficult issues standing in the way of agreement involve immigration and funding for a United Nations relief agency with alleged ties to Hamas terrorists.
It was a shortened week in Congress as House Republicans left early for a retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. But the House Republicans did get another piece of bad news this week when Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a longtime member, announced that he would leave Congress on March 22. Along with other vacancies, Buck’s departure will reduce the Republican majority to only 218 seats vs 213 for the Democrats. This gives Speaker Johnson very little wiggle room when negotiating legislation, as he can only afford to lose two of his members if Democrats are united in opposition.
Next week, the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Chair’s always-important press conference scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. At 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the Fed releases its official statement on the meeting and the rate decision.
Friday at midnight is the next government shutdown date for the six spending areas that were not approved last week. This batch of bills includes the largest and potentially the most controversial, dealing with the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), State, and Homeland Security. According to staff who have been working on these bills, the two facing the most difficulty are those for Homeland Security and the State Department.
With respect to State, Congress must decide whether to resume funding for the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) which funds refugee programs around the world. The US stopped funding for UNRWA when Israel alleged that workers from the agency participated in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Homeland Security, unsurprisingly, is a challenge as Republicans and Democrats jockey over the immigration issue. Topics being debated range from border-wall construction to more agents to deal with the inflow of immigrants. Democrats want money included to help urban areas house migrants who are released after crossing the border illegally. While they have a week to work on these issues, there appears to be potential for a compromise in which five of the six bills will pass and provide FY 2024 funding. The sixth, Homeland Security, would operate under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will last through the current fiscal year, which runs until October 1.
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