Fedweek

Among the regular appropriations bills for the new fiscal year that are not part of one of the packages advancing in Congress is the one covering DHS, which is the center of the most charged dispute, over border security programs and in particular funding for a southern border wall.

The other two cover agencies including Commerce, Justice and science-related agencies, and State and foreign operations-related agencies.

For any agencies whose budgets are not passed by Congress and signed by the President before September 30, temporary funding is needed to prevent partial shutdowns that would result in some employees being put on unpaid furloughs and others kept at work unpaid for the meantime. The Senate has passed a bill to temporarily extend funding for such agencies until December 7, pushing off the risk of a shutdown triggered by controversial issues until after the elections.

The House is to take up that bill next week, likely just ahead of the deadline. While passage is expected, it’s common in such situations for advocates of a particular issue to use the threat of agency closings for political leverage. That often brings the government to the brink of a shutdown—and occasionally over it—before either another temporary extension or full-year funding is enacted.

Immigration policy was central to the two brief partial shutdowns that occurred early this year, and the White House all year has been sending mixed signals about its willingness to trigger another over that issue. A deadlock over that issue could affect not only DHS but also all other agencies whose budgets had not been enacted into law by September 30, since temporary funding for all of them would be tied together in one package.