Congress Reaches Deal on First Spending Package
Earlier this week, Congressional negotiators reached a deal to pass a $147 billion package that would fund the Departments of Energy and Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, military construction projects, and the Legislative branch. The House plans to hold a vote this week to give its final approval of the package.
Republicans and Democrats are still negotiating two other packages of funding bills for votes this month that would fund the rest of the federal government, except for the departments of State, Commerce, Justice and Homeland Security, as well as the science agencies. Congress must pass legislation to continue funding the federal government before Sept. 30, 2018 to prevent a full or partial government shutdown.