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December is usually a pretty stressful time in Washington. For years, Congress has spent the last few days before its Christmas recess scrambling to pass some kind of spending bill that will prevent a federal government shutdown. But for once, the halls of the Capitol will be quiet — a little too quiet.
That’s because this year Congress decided to punt on most of its to-do list until the new year. In doing so, lawmakers saved their precious vacation time and, in the eyes of some conservatives, prevented another mad dash to spend money on the way out the door. But let’s be real: All they’ve done is merely delay that dash. What awaits Congress after the holidays is a very, very stressful return to reality.
What awaits Congress after the holidays is a very, very stressful return to reality.
The biggest bit of this procrastination comes courtesy of the “laddered” short-term spending bill that passed in November. Thanks to a bit of sleight of hand from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., there are two spending tranches, each with its own deadline. The first tranche covers items funded in the annual Agriculture, Energy and Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-HUD spending bills. Without either another continuing resolution or yearlong appropriations passing both houses of Congress, the money for those parts of the federal government will run out on Jan. 19, forcing a partial government shutdown.
Notably, the House has opted to peace out of Washington until Jan. 9, leaving just eight working days between its return and potential chaos. That’s a far cry from the timeline that Johnson laid out back when he first became speaker, which foresaw shepherding all 12 appropriations bills through the House before December. Those bills that have passed still need to be negotiated with the Democratic-controlled Senate; the upper chamber is understandably dead set on preserving the higher top-line spending rates that President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., agreed to in this summer’s debt ceiling deal.
That dynamic bodes ill for Johnson’s future as speaker, as another short-term bill passed with mostly Democratic backing will likely infuriate the far-right wing of his party. Those most conservative members are already mad that one of the few things Congress managed to do before fleeing was pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the country’s defense priorities. The original House version of that bill was filled with right-wing red meat, including provisions to limit access to abortion and medical treatment for transgender members of the military. What got sent to Biden’s desk, though, was the Senate version, which stripped all of those bits out while including a temporary extension to the 9/11-era domestic surveillance authority known as Section 702.
But that’s not all the House did on the way out the door. Republicans made sure to formally authorize their entirely baseless impeachment inquiry into Biden and, crucially, pass a bill on allowing whole milk to be served with public school lunches. Truly, it was an auspicious final set of votes for McCarthy, who is stepping down from his seat. That makes for one less vote that Johnson can count on without turning to Democrats until a special election can be held.
This all means that Congress is out of commission for the next three weeks.
I will also note that the Senate didn’t follow the House’s lead in adjourning — at least not right away. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Thursday that the upper chamber would at least reconvene on Monday. The goal, Schumer said, was to allow time for negotiators to try to hammer out a deal on an aid package for Ukraine and Israel that includes Republican demands for immigration reform.
Look, kudos to them for making such a deep sacrifice, but I have some concerns. Let’s leave aside the wisdom of linking the Israel and Ukraine funding at all for the moment, given both the differences in the wars being fought there and the levels of support in Congress for each. Tying a one-time foreign aid package to permanent changes to the immigration system, as Biden has requested, remains a terrible idea. It also has been a nearly impossible needle to thread, as any deal would have to both avoid alienating Democrats, many of whom are leery of the talks, and win over Republicans who are insisting on a truly draconian set of changes. And, again, the House won’t even be around to vote on any bill until next year, risking the chance that the deal’s opponents manage to tank it in the interim.
This all means that Congress is out of commission for the next three weeks. And if you believe that the members will come back well-rested and ready to work, well, I likely have some bad news for you about Santa Claus. The more accurate frame of mind here was best summed up by what Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told Politico back in November: “If you can’t do it by September, then you can’t do it by the middle of November, and you can’t do it by December, why the hell do you think you’re gonna get it done in January?” It’s a fair question — but not one that most lawmakers will spend much time considering over the coming eggnog-fueled weeks.
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