On Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul succeeded in blocking a vote on the so-called Budget Deal (which we discussed thusly Wednesday). In so doing, the federal government shut down at 12:01 AM.
An hour and a half later, the Senate invoked cloture, voted on the huge spending deal reached by both parties Wednesday...
Wednesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Schumer announced the Senate had come to a budget agreement. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the deal “a significant bipartisan step forward.”
The agreement keeps the government open for six weeks and provides two years of massive spending hikes.
UPDATE: A cloture vote to end debate in the Senate on the funding bill passed by the House failed. So we’re heading to “shutdown” unless there is a last minute deal reached.
As a reminder of how Obama weaponized the 2013 shutdown, see my post Flashback to when Obama weaponized 2013 government shutdown.
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It’s unclear at this point whether there will be a short-term budget deal, or a government “shutdown.” Despite the drama, a shutdown is not really a shut down. Essential services continue.
It’s more of a scale-back, and the government has a lot of discretion as to what gets scaled back. In a...
The House of Representatives just approved a short term continuing spending bill to keep the government fully funded until mid-February.
The vote was 230-197. 11 Republicans voted no. 5 Democrats voted yes
It now moves on to the Senate, where Democrats say they have the votes to stop the funding, and at...
*UPDATE* Senate has also passed the stopgap spending bill, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a two-week spending bill that will beat the deadline of a government shutdown.
Senate Republicans released its 2018 budget, which includes terms to allow the lawmakers to push through tax reform through budget reconciliation. This would protect them from a Democratic Filibuster.
The plan gives tax writers until November 13 to submit tax reform plans.
Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Bob Corker (R-TN), two members with opposing views on fiscal policy, have announced “a path forward on tax reform” that “would allow for a tax reduction, as scored on a statistic basis, over a 10-year period.” They hope to Senate Budget Committee will vote on said...
What a shock. The Illinois legislature has once again missed its spring deadline to pass a budget even though the state owes $14 billion to unpaid bills. From ABC 7:
Knowing the Governor Rauner would veto a budget that included tax increases, House Democrats left town without voting on a Senate-passed budget....
Last week, Louisiana passed a resolution calling for a Convention of States as described in Article V of the U.S. Constitution. The resolution passed on May 25 with a vote of 62-36, making Louisiana the eighth state to call for a meeting of the states for the purpose of proposing constitutional amendments...
Our generation is enduring a crisis, yet very few of us are actually aware of its existence.
On April 4, 2011, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education (OCR) released what has come to be known as the “Dear Colleague” letter (DCL).
As a preface, Title IX is a...
Monday, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin had a camera follow him to the State House to check on the progress of the state budget. At 11:00 on a Monday, the chamber was completely empty. Governor Bevin implored state legislators to “get to work,” citing a mere nineteen days left in the legislative...
Marco Rubio missed Friday’s vote on the Omnibus bill.
It was a bill he stated he opposed and might even try to delay.
But he didn’t show up for the vote. 98 other Senators did. Including Ted Cruz, who returned from the campaign trail to be able to just say No.
Paul Ryan wanted a budget and lacking a budget, we got another Omnibus Bill stuffed with all sorts of things we needed to pass in order to find out what’s in it.
The final vote count was 166 Democrats and 150 Republicans in favor. The total vote was 316-113.
Nancy Pelosi congratulated...
The trillion dollar plus Omnibus bill being eased through Congress is stuffed with all sorts of provisions which, if debated individually, would cause an uproar.
Senator Jeff Sessions focused in on immigration provisions and funding for the Obama agenda:
Monday afternoon, President Obama signed a two-year budget deal saying it was, “a signal of how Washington should work.”
Avoiding an election-year budget showdown, the bill suspends the debt limit until March of 2017 and brings the national debt total to a staggering $20 trillion.
According to USA Today:
Some House...
The air is crisp, the leaves are donning their autumnal dress, and the Hill is bracing for it’s annual budget fight.
According to Speaker Boehner, “there’s no reason to vote against it.”
