With the start of a new year, Congress returns to Washington for the second session of the 115th Congress, while President Trump readies for his first State of the Union on January 30, 2018. The legislative agenda for the year is already stacking up, with a number of issues facing hard deadlines for action, not to mention the looming 2018 midterm election cycle which could impact the ability of the Republican majority to enact its policy agenda as they now have a smaller majority (51-49) in the Senate after the arrival of newly elected Democratic Senator Doug Jones (D-AL). While not exhaustive, this Outlook for 2018 provides a high-level report on a number of policy initiatives that we expect will dominate the congressional and executive branch focus and calendar for the coming months.

Appropriations and Budget -

At the very top of Congress’s January agenda is funding the government beyond the January 19th deadline imposed by the latest short-term government funding bill passed December 21, 2017. Congressional leadership and the White House have been negotiating for more than a month, but have failed so far to generate agreement to keep the government funded. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle must reconcile multiple, major points of contention. Keeping the government on current spending levels or increasing them would trigger automatic spending cuts through sequestration. While Congress lifted the sequestration caps in 2013 and 2015 by bipartisan agreement, Democrats are so far holding the line that any increase in defense spending must be met with an equivalent increase in domestic spending.