The congressional budget process has run into even more trouble, with partisan rancor over guns and a sit-down protest by Democrats leading the House last week to start its July 4 recess early — despite the tight time schedule Congress already had to approve spending bills for Fiscal 2017.
Congress so far has failed to send the President any of the 12 spending bills needed for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. The House and Senate have longer summer recesses scheduled this year because of the political conventions.
The congressional budget process has run into even more trouble, with partisan rancor over guns and a sit-down protest by Democrats leading the House last week to start its July 4 recess early — despite the tight time schedule Congress already had to approve spending bills for Fiscal 2017.
Congress so far has failed to send the President any of the 12 spending bills needed for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. The House and Senate have longer summer recesses scheduled this year because of the political conventions.
The House sit-down, like a Democratic filibuster in the Senate the previous week, was intended to secure votes on gun-control measures.
The Senate failed to pass four such measures early last week that would have been amendments to the Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill. But another gun amendment remains under consideration, causing Republican leaders to put the spending bill on the back burner.
This week further Senate appropriations work is also complicated by disputes over Zika, Affordable Care Act funding, the Confederate flag and other issues.
The budget process has repeatedly broken down in recent years. Hopes for a better showing this year are fading rapidly. This means lawmakers will likely be forced again to rely on unsatisfactory, embarrassing stop-gap measures to keep the government open this fall.
