The U.S. House and U.S. Senate each returned to session on December 1, 2014, and will be in session through late next week. The two bodies will have to agree to appropriations legislation by December 11, 2014 in order to avoid a government shutdown. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Harry Reid have agreed in principle to a way forward on these bills. Under the agreement, Congress would vote on legislation containing nearly all of the full-year (through September 30, 2015) appropriations bills. Only Homeland Security Appropriations would be funded through a short-term Continuing Resolution, into early next year.
Republicans in Congress prefer this approach because they hope to use Homeland Security funding as a vehicle for responding to President Obama’s recent Executive Order on immigration. This so-called “cromnibus” (part CR and part omnibus) spending bill will likely be voted on in the House next week. There is still no certainty that there are enough votes to pass the bill in the House of Representatives yet, so the threat of a government shutdown continues to loom.