Oak Federal Solutions
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources
Search

blog

Articles:

The Budget Deal is Now Law. What Happens Next? - August 3, 2019
Sweet and Sour Shutdown - January 10, 2019
Many Paths Possible for Post-Election Appropriations - October 24, 2018
A Case Against Biennial Budgeting - August 9, 2018
Rescissions Redux - June 5, 2018
A Step Forward on Infrastructure - March 28, 2018
What a government shutdown really does - February 6, 2018
The State of the Union Deficit - January 31, 2018
Executive Branch earmarks: walking-around money for bureaucrats - January 15, 2018
Congressional earmarks benefit communities - January 13, 2018
New year, new budget? ​- January 1, 2018
Year-end budget drama - November 28, 2017
​Appropriations Endgame - October 17, 2017
Dead on arrival? Nope - September 17, 2017
An 8-armed appropriations plan shaping up - August 16, 2017
See you in September - July 28, 2017
Full speed ahead - July 12, 2017
The staggering imbalance of the federal budget - July 3, 2017
Your guide to the coming fiscal kerfuffle - June 6, 2017
Five takeaways from the Trump budget - May 23, 2017
What to look for in Trump's budget - May 17, 2017
Shutdown shenanigans - May 9, 2017

Year-end budget drama

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
​We’re beginning to see political theatrics that are common this time of year.
 
Funding to keep the federal government operating expires at midnight on December 8. As long expected, another short-term “continuing resolution” (CR) will be needed by that date since fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills are not yet enacted – and are not even close to being finalized.
 
The President and bipartisan congressional leaders had planned to meet at the While House Tuesday (November 28) to talk about how the year should end for must-pass appropriations bills. Before those bills can be finalized, a deal must be reached on the topline for discretionary spending and on how that topline is divided between defense and nondefense spending.
 
But the meeting fell apart before it even happened. Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Pelosi (D-CA) canceled their participation after the President tweeted about Democrats’ position on immigration, crime, and taxes and added “I don’t see a deal.”
 
The Democrats said that if the President doesn’t see a deal, they’ll simply continue to negotiate with their Republican counterparts in Congress.
 
Many disputes must be resolved before any deal is done. The President insists on money for a border wall, which Democrats oppose. Democrats insist on extending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which the President announced would end. Democrats also want an increase to nondefense spending equal to any increase to defense spending proposed by Republicans.
 
Any of these could be show-stoppers, and other issues could be piled on to complicate negotiations. Among these are subsidies to stabilize Affordable Care Act insurance markets and reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Disaster aid for states and territories hit by hurricanes and wildfires also must move forward. And let’s not forget tax reform, which, while on a separate track from spending discussions, will take attention away from making final decisions on spending levels.
 
The bottom line for the Appropriations Committees is that they can’t even start their work until there is a topline spending agreement, and, once there is an agreement, they will need at least four weeks to work out details and move a bill through the House and Senate to the President’s desk.
 
Speaker Ryan said on November 14 that the next CR won’t extend into next year. But it’s almost December with no agreement in sight. Congress will go home for the holidays. It will likely be no sooner than January before appropriations cross the finish line, and one or more CR extensions will be necessary until then.
 
During the next few weeks there will be much angst about a possible shutdown, and each side will try to set up the other to take blame if there is one. But a shutdown is still unlikely. Republican congressional leaders realize the political dangers, especially for a party that controls the House, Senate, and White House. Democrat leaders might see a political advantage to a shutdown for which Republicans are blamed, but it’s hard to see many Democrats voting against a simple extension of government funding, if that’s what they are offered. And, while the President tweeted in May “our country needs a good shutdown,” his willingness to strike a deal in September with Democrat leaders on the first CR and debt limit suggests that he’ll look to make another deal this time around.
 
Until then, we, the audience, will have to wait for the next act in this drama to play out.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dale Oak’s career in federal budget and appropriations spans more than 30 years. His most recent position with the government was Senior Advisor to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, where he was an appropriations process expert helping to guide appropriations bills from initial drafting to enactment. 

    Archives

    August 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home

About

Services

blog

resources

Contact

Copyright © 2019
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources