Congress passed a bill that lifts the spending caps passed in 2011 and raises the debt ceiling through 2017, but funding for most of the federal government is still up in the air.
Congress must pass a comprehensive spending bill or another continuing resolution prior to the expiration of the current continuing resolution on December 11th.
Spending levels have already been agreed to under the so-called "budget deal" Congress passed last week, but Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) says they won't shy away from attaching political policy riders to the next spending bill.
“This is the legislative branch and the power of the purse rests within the legislative branch, and we fully expect that we're going to exercise that power,” Ryan told reporters at his first news conference since he was elected Speaker last week. [...]
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) called the new Speaker’s refusal to rule out controversial riders “inconsistent with his duty to the responsible stewardship of the House.”
Among other things, House Republicans are expected to attach an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood to any omnibus spending bill brought up for a vote.
As we've already established, and as Minority Whip Steny Hoyer points out, the president isn't going to sign any of this nonsense into law and we'll be right back where we were with Speaker Boehner.
I expect the House will pass their pet policy riders. I also expect they will be rejected by the Senate and/or the president and Speaker Ryan will find out what it's like to be Speaker Boehner when the Freedom Caucus attacks him for abandoning the riders. If I'm wrong, a government shutdown will be Ryan's first major act as Speaker.
If the House Republican Caucus were a movie franchise it would be rebooted every single year with the exact same plot.