Congress nearing budget compromise

After the longest government shutdown in history, caused by Congress’ inability to draft a budget, there appeared to be little interest in repeating that episode. As a result, at the time of this writing, Congress was moving with unaccustomed speed to complete a budget before the January 30 deadline.

Expanded funding

Under the current compromise, reached on January 20, the vast majority of the federal government will be funded for the fiscal year. The compromise bill voted by the House will fund an expanded defense budget and also fund the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Transportation, Education, and Homeland Security (DHS).

In the stopgap funding bill enacted in November to end the shutdown, Congress already approved a full year of funding for the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, as well as the operations of Congress and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition, the House previously passed a package that would fund the departments of Treasury and State, along with the IRS and foreign aid.

The Senate needs to approve all this funding legislation to avert a partial government shutdown at month’s end. Before recessing in mid-January, the Senate began the approval process and voted on a package funding the departments of Justice, Interior, Commerce, and Energy, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), water programs, and federal science initiatives.

Many Trump cuts modified