The House and Senate are in session this week. The House will vote on
15 bills under suspension of the rules, including the
Federal Information Resource to Strengthen Ties with (FIRST) State and Local Law Enforcement Act (H.R. 495), which would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide Congress with annual reports on the department's coordination with state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; and the
Pathways to Improving Homeland Security at the Local Level Act (H.R. 449), which would require DHS to produce an annual catalog with training opportunities and other services available to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.
The House will vote on a continuing resolution (H.J. Res. 28) which would fund, through February 28, 2019, all federal departments and agencies currently shutdown (at enacted FY 2018 levels); President Trump has threatened to veto this CR. The House will also vote on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R. 648), a six-bill appropriations package based on spending measures previously negotiated by House and Senate appropriators which would provide full FY 2019 funding for all federal departments and agencies covered by the Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills. The House will also vote on a continuing resolution (H.J. Res. 31) funding the Department of Homeland Security through February 28. House Democrats may also release a plan next week to illustrate their vision of securing the border without a wall as part of a revised FY 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
The Senate will vote on its own appropriations package, the End the Shutdown and Secure the Border Act, which contains full FY 2019 funding for the remaining seven appropriations bills (including Homeland Security); $12.7 billion in supplemental disaster funding; and $5.7 billion for physical barriers at the southern border in exchange for delaying, for three years, the deportation of 700,000 undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 300,000 undocumented immigrants for three years. The package is directly modeled off a plan outlined by President Trump on January 19. The package will need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats in order to receive the 60 votes necessary to advance consideration of the bill, a number that seems unlikely to be achieved as of Tuesday. However,
the measure could put in motion the steps necessary to eventually reach a compromise between Congressional leaders and President Trump and reopen the government after 32 days of the partial government shutdown.
The Senate will also vote on Thursday to consider a House-passed continuing resolution (H.R. 268) funding all impacted federal departments and agencies through Friday, February 8, in addition to $14.2 billion in emergency disaster appropriations. At least 13 Senate Republicans would need to join all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in voting for the CR in order to get the 60 needed votes for passage. If President Trump were to veto the CR, two-thirds of the House and Senate (i.e., 290 Representatives and 67 Senators) would be needed to successfully override the veto and enact the bill into law, temporarily ending the partial government shutdown.
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