(UBS)
The Democratic support was conditional on a commitment from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) that the Senate would have a vote in December on the extension of expiring healthcare subsidies, which has been the focal point for Democrats over the shutdown. As part of the agreement between Leader Thune and the Democrats, the funding bill contained additional protections for federal workers, including a reversal of layoffs that occurred during the shutdown, a prohibition on mass firings through January 30, and a stipulation that all federal employees receive back pay after missing paychecks during the shutdown (this is already a legal requirement, but it was added because the Trump administration had raised the possibility of denying missed pay for furloughed workers). After being out of session for 54 days, the House followed suit in passing the legislation later in the week. Six House Democrats joined all but two House Republicans in passing the extension and reopening the government.
What’s Next in Congress? Congress has plenty of unfinished work ahead over the next few months. The House and Senate need to reconcile differences in the annual defense authorization bill and pass a compromise before the end of the year. As part of the agreement on government funding, the Senate will need to have votes on the extension of expiring healthcare subsidies. Finally, Congress once again will be staring at a new deadline for the expiration of government funding (January 30). The good news is that the bill just signed into law already covers funding for the entire fiscal year for Agriculture (including SNAP benefits), the Legislative Branch (Congress), and Military construction and Veterans. The bad news is that the remaining nine bills cover the lion’s share of total discretionary federal spending. We are cautiously optimistic that Congress will be able to pass some, but likely not all, of the full-year funding bills. Some of the more contentious bills where finding bipartisan agreement may be more difficult include Energy, Financial Services, Homeland Security, State, and Labor-Health and Human Services-Education. While there likely will be a renewed threat of a government shutdown as we get closer to January 30, that threat may only cover part (albeit still likely a large part) of the government.
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