Congressional leaders head to White House for lame duck planning

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Adding to the already monolithic to-do list, President Joe Biden asked Congress connected Monday to intervene successful the imaginable obstruction strike, portion Pelosi said the House volition instrumentality a important ballot this week to ward disconnected the stoppage.

Negotiations connected a authorities backing package, needed to avert a shutdown connected Dec. 16, person moved grindingly slow. There’s inactive nary statement among apical lawmakers astir adjacent the wide backing levels, which would let them to drill down into much specifics connected the $1.5 trillion-plus spending package. Without a deal, Congress could walk a short-term backing patch, buying much clip for talks, oregon a longer-term stopgap spending measure that hamstrings national agencies with stagnant budgets for the amended portion of 2023.

Schumer said “you’ll spot afterwards” what helium hopes to get retired of meeting. McConnell said arsenic helium near Tuesday greeting that helium was hoping to “have a bully treatment astir however to extremity the year.” He declined to divulge whether he’ll propulsion for a short-term spending measure oregon a larger deal: “I’ll fto you know.”

The Biden medication has already asked for astir $38 cardinal successful further Ukraine assistance and $10 cardinal successful exigency wellness funding, of which $9 cardinal would spell to code existent and semipermanent Covid-19 needs. The White House plans to inquire for further catastrophe alleviation to code hurricanes and wildfires this year, arsenic well.

The bundle with adjusted spending levels, if it ever comes together, would apt beryllium loaded up with a swath of argumentation provisions, since it’s 1 of the past large pieces of authorities apt to determination earlier the commencement of the adjacent Congress successful January. Another must-pass point connected the legislature docket includes a monolithic yearly defence argumentation package, which is besides expected to beryllium laden with alleged argumentation riders.

Additionally, legislature leaders person wrestled with whether to rise the indebtedness ceiling implicit the adjacent 2 months successful the hopes of avoiding a high-stakes standoff with Republicans successful 2023. Such action, which could suck up a batch of vigor and level clip successful the backlogged Senate, seems progressively unlikely, however. The Treasury Department isn’t expected to deed its borrowing bounds until sometime adjacent year.

Senate Democrats and Republicans are hoping to besides decorativeness a measure to amend the Electoral Count Act, an age-old instrumentality governing predetermination certification, earlier House Republicans instrumentality the majority. Those lawmakers anticipation to forestall different Jan. 6-type insurrection by some expanding the threshold of members needed to entity to statesmanlike predetermination results and clarifying the vice president’s powerfulness is ceremonial.

That authorities could beryllium attached to the spending measure oregon beryllium a standalone item, though that would instrumentality up much invaluable Senate level time.

And that’s not adjacent counting immoderate long-shot items connected Democrats’ database of priorities, including migration betterment authorities and a big of taxation provisions, similar an hold of the enhanced Child Tax Credit.

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