House Democrats know Senate can't pass 12 bills in 3 weeks, prepare another short-term spending bill

It's almost September, so you know what that means: The possibility of a government shutdown is floating around in the ether. While Congress made a big spending agreement before leaving for August recess, that was just an agreement on spending levels. The actual appropriations that will fund government in the new fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 haven't been finished.

Republicans in the Senate have already been trolling Democrats by trying to shift funds from housing, education, and health programs to Trump's border wall, so the process is not going to be smooth sailing. House leadership is already preparing for a short-term continuing resolution to keep government running this fall.

Both chambers return on Sept. 9, giving them a scant three weeks to wrap up all the appropriations. "While the House has acted and wants to go to conference with the Senate on appropriations bills as soon as possible, there is a possibility that we will need a short-term CR to provide time for the Senate to do its work," said Mariel Saez, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. While 10 of the 12 spending bills have been passed by the House, the Senate has passed none, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided to wait until the White House and House Speaker Pelosi struck the deal on the budget and debt ceiling.

The Senate's big idea of taking money out of domestic spending for the wall comes from a plan they're considering to consolidate three spending bills—defense, health and human services, and energy and water—into one "minibus." Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said, "If we did that, that would be over 70 percent of the expenditure. […]That would be progress big time." Until it couldn't pass muster with House Democrats in conference.

The Senate will simply not be able to handle 12 spending bills in three weeks. The only thing McConnell will move that quickly on is pushing through Trump's horrible judicial nominees. So another short-term continuing resolution is almost inevitable.

House Democrats are looking at two possible deadlines: just before the Thanksgiving recess in November, or a few weeks later in December. It will probably end up being delayed until the weekend before Christmas, because it always is. But with the spending caps already agreed to, chances for another shutdown are slim.

Probably.

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