You have 1 more viewing!

The 10-week CR will only last until December 11, requiring Congress to come back to Washington for a Lame Duck session.  Thorny issues such as reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank (passed separately until June 2015) and temporarily authorizing the ‘train-and-equip’ mission in Syria (without full funding) did not hold up final passage more than one week.  Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell did not want to repeat shutting down the government, as happened last year, changing the narrative off of the President's performance this close to the elections.  Minority Leader Pelosi in the end did not use her leverage to extract concessions from Speaker Boehner in order to also allow her members to return home to campaign.  However, depending on the outcome of the elections, Boehner's and McConnell's conservative critics may feel more emboldened to demand the concessions they were denied, such as votes on shutting down the Ex-Im Bank, especially as the CR expires and the Lame Duck pushes up against the holidays. The Republican Leadership's Lame Duck strategy is to use the break to finish negotiating the remaining appropriations bills and pass a large omnibus appropriations bill when they return in December.  Such a measure will give the administration budget and spending certainty through next fiscal year (September 30, 2015). A large appropriations bill also has the risk of last minute amendments that are sometimes controversial and would not pass on their own or without a fixed deadline when lawmakers want to return home for the holidays. ReMA will be carefully monitoring this situation to ensure that harmful metals theft legislation is not included at the last moment and language to limit EPA's rule making authority remains.  For more information about the appropriations legislation, please contact either Mark Reiter or Billy Johnson.