So What Exactly Is Congress Doing?

Yesterday One America News posted an article about what Congress needs to accomplish in the next two weeks. There are a lot of things to be done. The question is whether or not they can work together successfully enough to get them done. Just for the record, calls for unity seem a little odd to me in a world where Congress can’t even find unity on things the American people need.

The article reports:

The biggest item on the legislative to-do list is an agreement on government funding. Congress faces a December 11 deadline to pass a government-funding bill and to avoid a shutdown.

Reports said negotiations over Thanksgiving ended with a deal on spending levels for the 12 2021 fiscal appropriation bills.

The chairs of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees said they would sit down to hammer out the final details. Committee staff and the White House would finalize each of the spending bills.

In early November, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the bills will fully fund several ‘crucial priorities,’ which includes securing the border to supporting public health.

…Negotiations also continue toward another coronavirus relief bill while both Democrats and Republicans remain at a stalemate over a dollar amount.

McConnell has pointed to several senators still backing a $500 billion proposal blocked by Democrats. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) continue to hold firm on a $2.2 trillion bill as a starting point for talks.

Congress is expected to work overtime in a push to come to an agreement on a proposal.

There is also some attempted silliness that may make compromise difficult:

Lawmakers also said they want to resolve a fight over a plan to rename military bases as part of a military policy bill.

President Trump has already threatened to veto a bill if it includes language that would force the Pentagon to rename “problematic” bases.

These issues are compounded by the fact that control of the Senate for Congress’s next session remains up in the air as Georgia’s runoff races won’t be concluded until after the new year.

The Pentagon does not need to waste its time renaming “problematic” bases. There are enough real threats to America around the world that need their attention.