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IPFS News Link • Trump Administration

Congress aims to avoid shutdown, while Trump presses for 100-day wins

• http://www.cnbc.com

Congress returns from a two-week break facing a deadline to keep the government operating while President Donald Trump presses harder for some legislative accomplishments as his first 100 days in office wind to a close.

The week is shaping up to be a collision of needs between the two, and time is quickly running out on both.

Passing funding to avoid a government shutdown appeared to be an easy task just weeks ago, but new stumbling blocks have arisen in recent days as Trump has added new demands on items like the border wall and increased military spending.

Government funding ends Friday, allowing only three full days of legislative activity after the House returns late Tuesday night, and the last-minute controversial requests from the administration are threatening to make a deal harder to reach.

At the same time, Trump is pushing Congress to move quickly on another attempt to pass a repeal bill of the Affordable Care Act, even though House Republicans aren't unified on a path forward.

To add more to Congress' plate, Trump told The Associated Press last week that he intends to unveil his plan to overhaul the tax code, another priority for Republicans but a gesture that caught Republican congressional leaders by surprise.

All of this is making for a busy week. Here are the top issues facing Congress when it returns:

Funding the Government

Because Congress failed to come together on an appropriations bill for 2017 last year, its passed a short-term measure called a Continuing Resolution, or CR, that funds the government at 2016 levels. But the CR runs out on Friday, giving Congress a hard deadline to pass a comprehensive funding bill to finish the current fiscal year.

With time running out and the last-minute demands by the Trump administration complicating negotiations, it is likely that Congress, which isn't interested in a government shutdown, will pass another short-term CR to keep the government open for a week or two.

Aides to Republican and Democratic members involved in hammering out a funding bill have admitted that talks had been progressing well until last week, when the Trump administration demanded politically toxic measures be put into the measure.

Those include $3 billion for border security and the construction of a border wall, as well as $30 billion more for defense spending. The administration also said it wants to withhold funding for some subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that help low-income people afford health care.

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