Federal Spending (Appropriations) Vote Possible by Friday 3/16

House GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is pushing for a federal omnibus spending bill this week. The House spending team is still negotiating but hopes to conclude its omnibus package by Wednesday March 14, 2018 in order to hold the full House vote on the bill by Friday, March 16. House leaders hope this will give Congress the necessary leeway to avert a government shutdown by the March 23 deadline. An omnibus bill is a budget bill that gathers together all the individual funding bills for federal Departments into one big bill. The bill would complete the federal budget process started by the 2-year spending deal Congress negotiated earlier this year.

According to a snippet from Politico Pro:

“House GOP leaders have pushed each of the 12 appropriations subcommittees to finish their work by March 14 or risk a short-term funding patch for their bill. The leaders of nearly all spending panels have voiced confidence they’ll meet the deadline, with the exception of Labor-HHS-Education — the largest domestic spending bill.”

However, controversial provisions regarding abortion policy are complicating this process – learn more here. ANCOR will inform members once discussions around the bill conclude and the budget process is complete.