This week, Congress and the White House need to finalize a large spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. At this moment, all signs point to a deal being reached, as the President already signed H.R. 5895 into law, assuring the departments of Veterans Affairs and Energy, the Legislative Branch, and military construction and water projects are funded. The House is expected to take up H.R. 6157 this week which would fund 70 percent of the government, including the Departments of Defense, Labor, HHS, and Education.

H.R. 6157 also includes language to extend funding for all outstanding federal agencies through December 7th. This would presumably include funding for the Departments comprised in bill H.R. 6147, which includes Agriculture, FDA, Interior, EPA, Transportation, and HUD. A fourth package which has been stalled since early in the summer includes Financial Services, Homeland Security, Commerce, State, and Justice Departments. We wait and see if there are any hiccups in clearing the September 30th funding hurdle.