Congress Expected To Pass Government Funding Continuing Resolution Today

The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a short-term Continuing Resolution to extend government funding deadlines and avert a partial government shutdown on Saturday. Assuming the bill passes the House, the Senate is expected to pass the bill via unanimous consent this evening.

• The CR comes after Congressional leaders struck new dealyesterday to extend deadlines for the first six FY2024 spending bills - Energy and Water, Interior, Transportation-HUD, Commerce-Justice-Science, Milcon-VA, and Agriculture – until March 8.
• The next tranche of six bills, considered the more important – including Defense, Homeland Security, Finance, Executive Branch, Foreign Operations, and Labor-HHS bills – will be extended until March 22.
• Bloomberg notes: "Financial markets had shrugged of the risk of a shutdown, with many investors assuming Congress would once again reach a last-minute deal," and this is likely the baseline scenario again going into the new funding deadlines.
• However, little has yet been done to resolve major partisan differences over the spending in the second bucket of bills. For example, with immigration emerging as the primary political issue of the year, Republicans are pushing for border security policy in the text of the Department of Homeland Security bill. This bill could be where House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stakes out a hardline position and tries to appease the conservative flank of his party.