Funding for the federal government is scheduled to run out Friday, March 23, at midnight. House and Senate appropriators and leadership have been working to resolve the outstanding issues in order to introduce an omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. However, they are quickly running out of time to move legislation before the current continuing resolution runs out. Republicans and Democrats have been unable to resolve a number of high level policy issues surrounding immigration, healthcare and funding for a massive transportation project in the New York/New Jersey area.
If House and Senate leaders are able to reach agreement, a bill would be introduced in the House that would then go to the Senate for approval. If the Senate can muster unanimous consent to move the bill to the floor, the bill could pass before the Friday deadline. However, if any Senator objects, then the earliest the Senate could consider the bill is Sunday, which would mean Congress would either need to pass another continuing resolution or accept a short term weekend shut down.