Appropriations

FY18: As you may remember, Congress left for the Holidays without a larger budget deal and without passing final FY18 appropriations bills.  They did pass another short-term continuing resolution (CR) until January 19 to give themselves more time to discuss a larger budget deal.

In order to complete action on the fiscal year (FY) 2018 appropriations bills, an agreement on top-line budget numbers must first be reached.  Yesterday, the White House met with Democratic and Republican congressional leadership to discuss the path forward, but reports suggest that not much progress was made.  There are likely four pieces on the table for a deal: increase in the budget caps, a package of health-related funding including the Children’s Health Insurance Program, immigration policy around Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and additional funding for areas hit by 2017 hurricanes. It is likely that all of these issues will be attached to yet another CR that will need to be passed so Congress can write new funding bills. The current CR expires on January 19.

FY19: The President, by law, is required to submit his budget to Congress by February 5.  Because the FY18 budget is yet to be enacted, it is unlikely the President will submit a completed budget by that date.  It is more likely that there will be a blue print and budget details and full budget justifications will not come out until after the FY18 appropriations bills are completed. Stay tuned for more.

Nominations

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Alex Azar who is President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services on January 9^th.