Congress returns next week with a focus on preventing a government shutdown
Congress returns from their April Recess next week, and lawmakers will be under pressure to finalize a spending package for the rest of fiscal year 2017 (May 2016 – September 2017). The current funding authorization ends on Friday, April 28, 2017; if Congress fails to pass a spending bill by that time, the federal government faces a shutdown starting on April 29.
According to news outlets, the Trump Administration is “confident” they will avoid a shutdown. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the Administration is working with Congressional leaders on the spending bills. At this time, it appears the major disagreement between Congress and the Administration is on President Trump’s firm request for border wall funding and for an increase in defense funding. In addition, Congressional Democrats are holding firm on their demand for subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and on their opposition to fund the border wall at the expense of domestic programs.
In order to buy more time and avert a shutdown, Congress could pass another continuing resolution (CR) for one or two weeks. This would allow lawmakers time to negotiate either a $1 trillion omnibus to fund the government through September 30
th, 2017 or another temporary CR for the rest of this fiscal year. NAHMA will keep members updated on funding efforts, and we recommend members reach out to their respective Congressional leaders to advocate for full funding for affordable housing programs. Additional details can be found in our recent
grassroots alert.
