Congress is taking big strides to defuse President Trump's shutdown threat, working to pass as many spending bills as possible before next month's deadline so most of the government will remain open no matter what Mr. Trump demands on border security.
Those measures still need to be reconciled in a conference committee, but lawmakers are pushing to have as many as nine bills completed before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, putting those operations on firm footing and outside the reach of a government shutdown.
Still, if they can pass most of the other bills - and get Mr. Trump to sign them - then most of the government would be spared from a shutdown threat.
Mr. Blunt estimated that if all goes according to plan, the Senate could end August having passed spending bills totaling close to 90 percent of the approximately $1.2 trillion in total discretionary spending for next year.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said the shutdown threats can't be dismissed outright, but Mr. Trump would be deciding to veto bills that pass Congress with bipartisan margins.
"Well, some people take a threat to speed it up and work together. Some people would take a threat [and] say, 'What the heck? Why do we want to work together?' But I want to work together to try to get our bills through," Mr. Shelby said.
House Republicans can muscle through spending bills by their sheer numbers, but the more evenly divided Senate needs support from at least some Democrats to get legislation passed.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/1/lawmakers-defuse-trumps-shutdown-threat-partial-sp/
Those measures still need to be reconciled in a conference committee, but lawmakers are pushing to have as many as nine bills completed before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, putting those operations on firm footing and outside the reach of a government shutdown.
Still, if they can pass most of the other bills - and get Mr. Trump to sign them - then most of the government would be spared from a shutdown threat.
Mr. Blunt estimated that if all goes according to plan, the Senate could end August having passed spending bills totaling close to 90 percent of the approximately $1.2 trillion in total discretionary spending for next year.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said the shutdown threats can't be dismissed outright, but Mr. Trump would be deciding to veto bills that pass Congress with bipartisan margins.
"Well, some people take a threat to speed it up and work together. Some people would take a threat [and] say, 'What the heck? Why do we want to work together?' But I want to work together to try to get our bills through," Mr. Shelby said.
House Republicans can muscle through spending bills by their sheer numbers, but the more evenly divided Senate needs support from at least some Democrats to get legislation passed.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/1/lawmakers-defuse-trumps-shutdown-threat-partial-sp/
No comments:
Post a Comment