Can Congress Keep the Government Open in the Face of Politics?

With almost all eyes and the national media focused on the Presidential campaign and the day-to-day horse race projections, a very important date looms less than two weeks from now. 

On September 30, the current federal budget expires, and Congress has to appropriate funds to keep the government open or face another unpopular shutdown. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, tried to sell a Continuing Resolution (CR) appropriations bill to meet the deadline in recent days but it included a Republican idea (the SAVE Act) to require all newly registered voters to provide proof of citizenship to become enrolled, which was a total non-starter with House Democrats. 

With the very small Republican majority in the House, Johnson could not afford to lose any of his members to pass the CR.  Unfortunately for his plans, a number of Republicans objected to the proposed CR extension date to March 28, 2025, because it throws the budget crisis into the lap of the next administration (whoever it might be). 

These members propose a deadline of December, so the lame-duck session of Congress will resolve the budget issue instead of putting it on the plate of the new President. 

As a result, the desire of almost all members who do not want a government shutdown the month before the national election with plenty of blame to be levied against the current Congress, a different and bipartisan consensus is required.  On this basis, the projections are that a simple CR, holding all appropriations at the same level as this fiscal year,  will be passed in the remaining days of September, and the "can will be kicked down the road" again. 

This simply means that inbound operators and their business partners should be ready to contact Congress and its staff immediately after the election to make sure that any changes to the FY25 budget match priorities on public lands, transportation infrastructure improvements, visa and entry access issues, and fees and taxes on IITA businesses. 

Stay vigilant on this issue, as budget politics will rapidly become the priority in Washington as soon as the election is over and--hopefully--there is a clear winner!