Capitol Hill Working Time Already Running Short

Congress will return next week from its current one-week recess with plans to work four straight weeks, then be off until the week after Labor Day, then work only three more weeks in total before recessing in early October for the elections. Before August, leaders are hoping to make progress on moving the appropriations bills for the fiscal year that starts October 1. That likely will include the financial services-general government bill, which has passed a Senate subcommittee and the full House Appropriations Committee; both versions are silent regarding a 2015 federal employee raise, essentially amounting to standing back and allowing the administration’s proposal for a 1 percent increase to kick in by default. However, it’s unlikely that many, if any, of the spending bills will reach final enactment before October, meaning that a temporary extension of agency funding will be needed, probably until mid-November at least. There is little to no expectation on Capitol Hill of another partial government shutdown as occurred last year when budgetary gridlock prevented enactment of even temporary funding for a time. Many other legislative initiatives with potential impacts on federal employees and retirees likely will be put off until after the August recess, and potentially to a lame duck session scheduled to last four weeks into mid-December.