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.
The 2024 presidential election is reminiscent of a classic joke about two guys who are hiking in the woods and come across a grizzly bear, said political commentator and journalist Chris Cillizza during NAIOP’s Chapter Leadership & Legislative Retreat last week. One hiker takes off his hiking shoes, opens his backpack and puts on his running shoes. The other says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear!” The second hiker replies, “I don’t need to outrun the bear. I only need to outrun you.”
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.
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.
While the primary focus of this year’s election is which party will control the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives
The year is off to a busy start in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers face a key deadline this week. Without action,
Leading NAIOP’s business development efforts allows me the privilege of visiting chapters to engage new partners and hear what’s happening
