The Federal fiscal year begins today, October 1. Yesterday, the Senate and House passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government through December 3 with $27 billion in new funding for disaster relief and refugee resettlement. President Joe Biden signed the measure on Thursday.
Debt Ceiling
Earlier this week in a letter to congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin stated the government has limited borrowing authority after October 18 and urged an immediate increase in the debt ceiling. The Senate minority refuses to increase the debt limit and has left the majority party looking for alternatives that require only 50 votes and then have the House concur.
Infrastructure
Negotiations are ongoing to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in the House of Representatives, it passed the Senate this past summer. Congressional leaders are trying to find a workable framework for the Human Infrastructure bill among the majority in both the House and Senate that can be passed through budget reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes to pass. Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to post the IIJA for a vote by the end of September to garner support of House moderates to start the budget reconciliation process. The IIJA vote is expected today.
Moderate members of the House want the pass the IIJA first and the House progressives want the reverse. President Biden has been working, but as of this writing, unsuccessfully, to come to a framework agreement that members of the Senate majority can all accept. Late yesterday, there was some progress and specific negotiations between the Senate, House, and Administration on what to include in a $1.5 trillion framework over a 10- year budget reconciliation process.
The League supports and thanks the several members of the New Jersey delegation that have advocated for the inclusion of the removal of the State and Local Taxes (SALT) deduction cap and have indicated they will not support the bill.
We will continue to keep you posted on the quickly changing federal budget negotiations and process.
Contact: Paul Penna, Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609 695-3481, x110.