The House of Representatives and Senate face two deadlines in the next four weeks in which to agree on 12 major federal funding bills that will keep key parts of the government from shutting down — and neither chamber will be in session till next week. In November, when the lawmakers found themselves in the same position they are now in, they agreed to a stopgap process in two steps, known as continuing resolutions (CRs), that extends the timeline for passing four of the bills until January 19, with a separate vote on the rest on February 2. To avoid a partial shutdown in January and an even larger one in February, both the House and Senate must agree to either pass the bills or extend the deadlines yet again for their passage. |