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Eric Schmutz

Eric Schmutz is NAIOP’s Senior Director of Federal Affairs.
An Action-packed Week in Washington
The quest to approve federal funding continued during another busy week in Washington, where lawmakers took up a $435 billion funding package that includes the FDA and a number of other departments. Also this week, 16 states and American Samoa held presidential primary elections, with 854 Republican and 1,420 Democratic delegates at stake.
Congress’ Full Plate and Election-year Politics Will Make 2024 a Busy Year
In any year with divided government, it is a challenge to achieve agreements on appropriations and tax policy, but this Congress is also faced with challenges of reaching agreements on border security, along with assistance to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. Margins in both the House and the Senate are narrow and the presidential election year shortens the legislative timeline before congressional re-election campaigns start in earnest.
Congress Avoids Government Shutdown but Must-Pass Legislation Remains
For the first December in recent years, Congress is no longer facing a government shutdown deadline. Prior to the Thanksgiving recess, Congress approved a two-tiered appropriations package. This “laddered” approach primarily funds domestic programs (such as housing, agriculture, transportation and infrastructure) until Jan. 19, 2024, and the remaining programs, including defense and homeland security, until Feb. 2, 2024. Year-end 2023 is not without its share of must-pass legislation, however.
New House Speaker Johnson Faces Many Challenges
Following three weeks of negotiations and squabbling, House Republicans elected Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson to serve as the 56th Speaker of the House. This was a difficult time for House Republicans, who struggled to find a new speaker after eight of their members joined all House Democrats to abruptly oust McCarthy on Oct. 3.
Swirling Political Forces Could Derail Passage of Federal Continuing Resolution
There are only 11 days when both the House and the Senate are scheduled to be in session before the current federal funding authorization expires. In most years, the House and Senate leadership would simply agree to a continuing resolution (CR) that maintains existing federal policy and holds funding at current levels for a certain period to prevent a government shutdown before Oct. 1. This year, however, is not following Congress’ standard operating procedure, and is reminiscent of the years when congressional leaders were powerless to rein in the political forces that led to government shutdowns.
Debt Ceiling Debate in Washington
On Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited Wall Street to debut the latest House Republican proposal to raise the debt ceiling. In his speech, McCarthy stated that in the coming weeks, the House would approve a one-year increase in the debt limit that will include a reduction in discretionary spending to 2022 levels, while limiting future increases to 1% annually over the next 10 years.

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