Earlier this year in March, Congress completed work on a sixmonth continuing resolution that will carry discretionary government spending, about $1.87 trillion, through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, which is now rapidly approaching.
Now, Congress will again be called on to pass in some form the 12 appropriations bills. Usually, at this time of year, that would come in the form of another continuing resolution followed by a year-end omnibus or more continuing resolutions with 30 omnibus spending bills adopted since 1986 through the most recent period and now 16 full-year continuing resolutions since 1977. Big spending bills, whether an omnibus or a continuing resolution, are the most likely outcome under the current rules.
So far, with little more than a month to go, the House and Senate have both only finished one of the 12 bills, that one on military construction. The Senate version of that includes Agriculture and Legislative Branch as well, so those still need to be reconciled. The House has also passed Defense on its side. September could see a marathon of votes ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline. Which means that the majority party, in this case the Republicans, will ultimately end up making a spending deal with the minority party, the Democrats, which absolutely requires the cooperation, even tacit, of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), as it did in March when Democrats elected to kick the can for the remainder of the fiscal year.
