By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
These New Yorkers are not in an ideal position to cut a deal to keep the federal government open.
Congress is currently lurching through a sluggish summer session, but there’s some high-stakes drama just ahead. On September 30, annual appropriations for the federal government will run out. Last year, for the first time in forever, Congress managed to reach bipartisan agreement on most spending measures. But election-year jitters and the use of budget reconciliation by GOP leaders to bypass Democrats altogether have slowed the appropriations process to a crawl. There’s also lots of gamesmanship over the likely balance of power after the midterms and what that will mean for future spending policies.
