FY 19 EPA Funding a Moving Target

Senior House and Senate leaders are less and less certain about the fate of FY 19 appropriations for the seven outstanding measures needed to fund the government.

The latest talk is about extending the current Continuing Resolution (CR) through September 30, the end of the FY 19 Federal fiscal year.  Others believe there’s still an opportunity to move most of the remaining appropriations measures – Interior-EPA, Agriculture, Financial Services, Transportation-HUD, Commerce-Justice-Science, and State-Foreign Operations – before the December 7 expiration of the current CR.  The outlier is the Homeland Security spending bill that includes funding for President Trump’s border wall ($1.6 billion in the Senate or $5 billion in the House measure).

Senate negotiators have said that if they are still in discussion toward the end of next week, there’s a likelihood that they may pass another short-term CR – probably for a week – to give themselves a few more days to complete their work.  If not, look for the year-long extended CR.