Congress passes 2-week spending bill to avoid shutdown

Congress passed a two-week spending measure on Thursday, Dec. 6, avoiding a shutdown of the federal government. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the continuing resolution, which funds the government at current levels through Dec. 21.

Republicans and Democrats may find themselves facing a shutdown again in two weeks if they cannot come to terms on spending priorities—including Trump’s request for $5 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. In the event of a shutdown, many government functions, including some related to immigration would be suspended.

The stopgap measure extends a number of immigration programs that would otherwise have sunset on Friday, including E-Verify, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, the Special Immigrant Religious Worker program and the Conrad 30 Waiver program for foreign doctors.

BAL Analysis: Congressional approval of the stopgap spending measure eliminates the possibility of a government shutdown at the end of the week. However, the short-term extension does not resolve disagreements on the budget, including what Congress should do about Trump’s request for wall funding. BAL continues to track the various immigration benefit and enforcement amendments that may be added to the Appropriations bill to resolve the disagreements.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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