Senators and representatives may be returning to work this week, but don’t expect a lot of action in Congress, according to Shawn McBurney, SAF’s senior director of government relations.
“Look for a lot of heat, but not a lot of light coming from Washington,” he said, noting that both houses have very limited work schedules between Labor Day and year’s end — less than 30 days in the House of Representatives and 43 days for the Senate).
“Compounding lawmakers’ limited work schedule is Washington’s finely-tuned mastery of moving at a snail’s pace and its insatiable appetite for political bickering,” McBurney said. “There is precious little time to accomplish a lot of work.”
That doesn’t mean, of course, that there isn’t work to do. Among lawmakers’ first tasks: fund the government. Because of the current charged atmosphere on Capitol Hill, however, their ability to carry out even that “most basic of congressional responsibilities,” is in doubt.
The 2017 federal fiscal year begins on October 1. By that date, appropriations bills that fund federal agencies and departments must be enacted into law or there will be no money available and the government will shut down. Of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government, thus far none have been passed.
“It is a virtual certainty that Congress will be unable to pass all 12 appropriations measures by September 30,” McBurney said. “It’s possible that they may manage to pass some, but even that is an open question.”
Traditionally, he added, the appropriations bill that pays for military construction has been a popular model of bipartisan cooperation that speeds through the process; the bill pays for many projects in states and congressional districts throughout the country.
“This year the measure slogged through the House and Senate, was finally approved by the House but was filibustered in the Senate where it stalled,” McBurney said. “That is not a good omen.”
The options, he added, are stark.
“By midnight September 30, Congress will have to pass all 12 appropriations bills and have them signed into law by President Obama,” McBurney explained. “Or, Congress could pass some of the appropriations bills and fund the rest of the government with an omnibus bill, packaging several together as one bill. A third option is to pass a continuing resolution — a measure that funds activities at current levels for a specific time period. Absent those, the government shuts down.”
A government shut down in the midst of a bitter presidential campaign when control of the Senate is up for grabs is not what Republicans want, since it would be seen as helping the Democrats in November, McBurney said.
“As to other legislation beyond the appropriations bills, Speaker Ryan has said he does not want the House to consider any significant legislation in a lame duck session (the time period between congressional elections in November and when the next Congress is sworn-in in January 2017), but it may become inevitable,” he said.
