On Dec. 6, Congress passed a short-term stopgap funding bill to keep the government running and avoid a shutdown until the 21st of December. Originally, the temporary continuing resolution or “CR” was set to expire on December 7; however, due to the passing of former President George H.W. Bush, both Congress and the President decided to forgo a contentious debate this week and pass a short-term bill.
However, the remaining appropriations bills, which includes the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, for FY 2019 and will now still need to be resolved by December 21. Last week, both Republican and Democratic senators responsible for EPA and Interior spending said they had resolved their differences for the most part for FY19 – but a final overall agreement has not yet been reached with the House side. Also, with several issues – most notably the funding of a boarder wall—far from resolved, there is still chance the remaining appropriations bills may be punted to 2019.
However, Democrats in both the House and Senate are pushing towards one of two other options – to either pass the bill as is – with $1.6 billion (far less than the amount requested by President Trump) for a boarder wall – or to pass 6 of the 7 remaining appropriations bills, but pass a CR for the Homeland Security bill, until issues with that funding bill (most notable, boarder wall funding) are resolved. Most Senate Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby (R-AL) have made it clear that this is an issue the Democratic leadership will need to work out with President Trump.
