Lame-Duck Congress Must Quickly Pass Funding Measures

Author: Steve Winn
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Lawmakers will face a significant fiscal workload and a limited amount of time when they return to Washington next week following a lengthy recess.

Lawmakers will face a significant fiscal workload and a limited amount of time when they return to Washington next week following a lengthy recess.

The House reconvenes Monday and the Senate on Tuesday for the post-election “lame duck” session. Lawmakers will have just one workweek before the Thanksgiving break, however, to make progress on either completing appropriations measures for Fiscal 2017 — which began over a month ago — or passing another continuing resolution (CR).

The current CR funds the government through Dec. 9. Such resolutions generally continue current spending levels regardless of changing priorities and make it difficult for federal agencies to plan effectively for the coming year.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and congressional Democrats want to complete either a catchall package of spending measures or several “minibus” appropriations bills to fund the government’s operations. But with the two parties still at loggerheads over several issues, some analysts have begun to suggest that lawmakers will fall back on another CR.

After the Thanksgiving recess, Congress will only have two workweeks before the current CR expires. Lawmakers could extend the CR to Dec. 16 — when Congress is scheduled to adjourn — to give themselves more time to complete their work.
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