Dec. 20, 2022

Congress returns this week and is expected to pass a $1.7 trillion omnibus budget measure to keep the government running through September 2023. In addition to funding federal agencies, the bill will include some additional items such as funding for Ukraine and legislation clarifying how Congress certifies presidential election results. Both the House and Senate will need to pass the legislation by Thursday night, a day before the funding deadline on Friday. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that if a bill is not passed by that time, then he would only agree to a short-term continuing resolution keeping funding at current levels, pushing the deadline into early next year.

Senate Republicans and Democrats negotiated the measure with House Democrats, without the participation of House Republican leadership who would rather negotiate a broader spending agreement next year when they are in the House majority and have greater leverage. The bill is expected to include provisions to expand incentives for retirement savings, but additional tax changes desired by business groups are unlikely. The majority of Republicans in the House are expected to oppose the spending measure. With a current margin of only two votes, House Democrat leadership will need to rely on the nearly total support of their caucus and a few Republican votes to pass the omnibus spending bill.