Congress Continues to Work on Funding Bills, Defense Authorization

Yesterday, the House voted along party lines to fund the government through December 3rd and lift the debt ceiling through the 2022 election, but the legislation is unlikely to pass the Senate due to disagreement over whether the funding piece and debt ceiling should be tied together. Additionally, the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which includes $2 trillion in tax increases, continues to be negotiated between the White House and the Democrats in the House and Senate. Whether an agreement is reached on the reconciliation package will also impact whether the House passes the $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation by the September 27th deadline that House leadership announced during the August recess. Finally, the National Defense Authorization Act is on the House floor this week, including the Mass Timber Pilot Program that SLMA has supported to increase the utilization of mass timber in military construction.