Tuesday, February 12, 2019

The agreement was reached between House-Senate conferees H.J. Res. 31, a shell bill that originally was passed to provide stop-gap funding for the Department of Homeland Security.  If the agreement is enacted into law, it would prevent a looming partial shutdown of the federal government that is set to begin at Midnight on Friday, February 15th.  However, at the time of this writing, the text of the measure was not completed, it was unclear whether there are sufficient votes in the house to pass it, there was uncertainty over whether the President would sign or veto it, and a threat by the President to commandeer funds previously appropriated for other purposes to construct his proposed border wall loomed over the proceedings.

Friday, February 8, 2019

H.R. 507 was introduced in the House by Representative Karen Bass (D-CA), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Friday,  February 1, 2019

Senators and Representatives of both parties staked out their opening positions but dealt with little substance during the first meeting of a House-Senate conference committee that has been established to strike a deal on border security funding.  The meeting was held on Wednesday, January 30th and was followed throughout the remainder of the week by the preparation of a formal offer from House Democrats that rejects President Trump's call for funding for a wall and a declaration from the President that the whole thing was "a waste of time."

A rarity on Capitol Hill these days, the conference committee is charged with ironing out differences between the President and Democrats in Congress over President Donald J. Trump's Fiscal Year 2019 border security funding demands.  The conferees are working under a deadline of February 15, 2019, when a short-term continuing appropriations resolution that re-opened previously shuttered functions of the federal government expires.  Should Congress fail to act by that date, another shutdown of federal functions would be triggered.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Tomorrow's action is set to occur in a conference committee that was established late last week to iron out differences between the President and Democrats in Congress over the President's border security funding demands.  The conferees will be working under a deadline of February 15, 2019, when the short-term continuing appropriations resolution that re-opened the closed functions of the federal government expires. 

Monday, January 28, 2019

The House took up the measure on Monday, January 28, 2019, using a procedure known as “suspension of the rules.” Under this process, debate is limited to 40 minutes, no floor amendments to the measure are permitted, and the bill must receive the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those Members who are present and voting in order to be passed.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Today's congressional action occurred in connection with H.J. Res. 28, the “Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019”.  Congress cleared the measure for the President’s consideration on Friday, January 25, 2019, and the President signed it into law later that evening.  The action ended the longest shutdown of portions of the federal government in the nation’s history. 

It was part of a larger deal that requires Congress to convene a conference committee to consider proposals to enhance border security.  That conference committee must report back either the fact that it has reached a compromise or that it has failed to reach one by February 15th.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Friday’s action occurred in connection with H.J. Res. 31, a joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2019, and for other purposes.  The House approved the House-passed version of the measure on Thursday, January 24, 2919, by a vote of 231-180.  The Senate acted one day later, approving the amended Senate-passed version of the bill by a voice vote.

Immediately following House and Senate passage of the measure, a conference committee was established to iron out an agreement on border security funding, with the goal of completing a deal by February 15, 2019, when stop-gap funding for numerous federal departments, agencies, and functions expires..

Thursday, January 24, 2019

The House passed the measure on Wednesday by a vote of 229-184.  It marked the time the tenth time in the nascent 116th Congress  that the House had passed a measure seeking to reopen all or some of the functions of the federal government that have been shuttered by the standoff between President Trump and congressional Democrats over the President's demand that Congress appropriate $5.7 BILLION to fund the construction of a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

The two amendments that the House agreed to were offered by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).