The government may be back open for business, but Congress still needs to come up with a solution for funding to avoid another shutdown.
Congress voted to re-open the government early last week by passing a short-term funding bill that will allow the government to stay open for just a few more weeks.
But the odds of a new government shutdown may have increased in the days since a deal was struck to keep the government funded through Feb. 8.
Though U.S. legislators did agree to reopen the federal government after a three-day shutdown last week, nothing of any long-term legislative consequence was accomplished. In fact, the sticking point for any agreement in Washington is DACA, and in that regard, the battle is yet to be fought.
If recent negotiations are any indication, DACA will be only a part of the fight that the White House wants to have regarding immigration policy, the wall on the southern border and chain migration.
Senate Democrats and Republicans did manage to cobble together a six-year extension of the Child’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) last week but left the main sticking point, Deferred Action for Child Immigrants (DACA), unresolved.
From the looks of the current deadlock, and given the efforts underway by the administration to broaden its objectives for the negotiations, there is a good chance we will see another federal government shutdown in coming weeks.