Congress Delays Difficult Funding Decisions for Another Three Weeks

On Thursday, December 21st, the Senate passed another continuing resolution (CR) for three weeks (until Jan. 19th), averting a shutdown of the federal government that would have occurred at midnight on Friday. President Trump signed the CR on Friday, before departing for the holidays.
Several difficult funding decisions await Congress upon its return in January, starting with whether we will see a series of CRs for the balance of FY18, an omnibus appropriations bill, or a blend of the two (sometimes referred to as “CRomnibus”). Other issues such as defense spending, immigration, health care, and federal aid for the victims of the recent hurricanes and wildfires remain and will cause some lively debates
Predicting what’s going to happen in January 2018 for federal funding is pretty much impossible. Congress appears to recognize the importance of federal funding for a portion of the resources needed for state environmental programs, so at this time, flat funding is still expected for the PWSS program and the DWSRF – but time will tell.