Here it is folks, December 8 might get extended to December 22 just right before Christmas.
Congress faces a myriad of complicated year-end fiscal issues, the most important of which is keeping the government funded.
With that in mind, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced plans Thursday to pass a short-term spending bill to keep Washington open while budget talks continue.
"If the Senate Democrats choose to filibuster that they will have chosen to shut the government down, something that we do not want to see," Ryan warned at a news conference.
But Senate Democrats swiftly signaled they would likely agree to a stopgap bill and put off a fight over other hot-button issues -- like children's health insurance and immigration -- at least for a couple of weeks.
Ryan did not say how long the spending bill would go through, but multiple aides expect it will last through the Friday before Christmas, December 22.
DACA
But even if they can resolve those disputes, the most contentious and emotional issue they want to resolve could still stifle a deal later in December. What to do about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, the Obama-era protocol that allows children brought to the US illegally by their parents to stay in the country. The President announced the program would end in March, and left it up to Congress to figure out next steps.
Many Democrats want a DACA fix added to a government funding deal, and because the GOP needs help from Democrats passing a final package, they have leverage to force reluctant Republicans to accept it. In return, Republicans want a robust border security package, something Trump campaigned on, but many Democrats are resisting.
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the House are maintaining that they won't agree to a spending deal that doesn't include a DACA fix.
Many Republicans want to get some sort of deal on the DACA issue done at the end of this year or early in 2018 because they worry that if left hanging out there it will be politically perilous for them as it gets closer to the midterm election next November.
Asked about Democrats' push to include something to address DACA as part of a year-end spending, Ryan lashed out at Pelosi and Schumer for skipping the White House meeting earlier this week, saying, "you have to show up if you want to make your point and I don't think the Democrats are in a very good position to be making demands if you're not even going to participate in the negotiations that are necessary to move legislation forward and to solve problems."
But he didn't rule out merging the issues, saying, "the deadline is March as far as I understand it, we've got other deadlines in front of that like fiscal year deadlines and appropriations deadlines, but if they want to get to a solution they ought to get to the table and start talking."
But some conservatives are incredulous and warn injecting immigration policy into the spending bill is a non-starter.
"Immigration is not going to get lumped into this thing," said Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, noting both McConnell and Ryan have said that they won't include it. "I see including DACA on a spending bill as a non-starter."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/politi...Most+Recent%29