Extending the bogus continuing resolution.
Via WACH:
Congress will vote this week to give themselves until Dec. 21 to reach a spending deal and prevent the threat of a government shutdown over funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Congress was heading for a possible shutdown Friday until House and Senate leaders agreed to give themselves a two-week extension to avoid a messy partisan fight immediately after the death of former President George H.W. Bush.
Considering Bush’s passing, the House canceled votes for the week and the Senate postponed business until after the former president’s memorial service in Washington Wednesday.
The extension, or continuing resolution, only delays the inevitable and sets up a government shutdown fight the Friday before Christmas.
Congress has already funded about 70 percent of the government through the fiscal year but they still have to find the money for nine Cabinet departments and dozens of smaller agencies. Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate say they have reached an agreement on almost everything required to keep the federal government’s lights on, with the exception of funding the border wall.
President Trump has requested $5 billion for the wall and threatened to shut down the government if Congress comes up short. Over the weekend, Trump suggested he was open to giving lawmakers more time to negotiate. “If they come, which they have, to talk about an extension because of President Bush’s passing, I would absolutely consider it and probably give it,” he told reporters on his return flight from the G-20 summit in Argentina.
Lawmakers could conceivably reach an agreement on border security issues before the Dec. 21 deadline, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told Sinclair Broadcast Group. “We could do it in two or three days, not a week, not two weeks. But right now we’re at an impasse over the funding of the wall,” he said.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate and some Republicans were pushing for a tighter, one-week deadline, which would put pressure on both sides to reach a deal sooner and reduce the prospects of spending Christmas in Washington.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday, “Hopefully in the next week or so that will be resolved, in one way or another.” Until then, the House is expected to vote Thursday on a two-week continuing resolution. Democrats are not expected to object when the vote is called.