Never Give Up, Never Surrender

A government shutdown will begin at midnight. The Senate has recessed until 12:01 a.m. without passing a spending bill. (Washington Post)

BREAKING NEWS: A government shutdown will begin at midnight. The Senate has recessed until 12:01 a.m. without passing a spending bill.

The Senate planned to vote early Friday morning on a spending bill that would pour billions of dollars into the military and domestic programs while keeping the government operating.

The fate of the bill was uncertain in the House, where conservatives balked at adding billions to the nation’s debt and liberals demanded action on protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The House leadership had advised lawmakers to “prepare for late night or early morning votes.”

White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman John Czwartacki said late Thursday that “agencies are now being urged to review and prepare for a lapse” in spending after midnight.

This is the second shutdown in three weeks.

Well done, Congress. Well done. /sarcasm

For those following at home, I'm a govt contractor and I'm supposed to go in tomorrow to find out what I'm supposed to do.

ETA: Aand open again as of 5:30 am Friday

Congress has kept the government open (Vox)

After much drama and a brief but technical government shutdown, Congress voted to fund the government at roughly 5:30 am Friday — keeping federal agencies open until the end of March. Lawmakers extended government funding through March 23 in addition to passing a massive deal to increase investments in domestic programs and the military by roughly $300 billion over the next two years, and they increased the debt ceiling for one year. The bill passed at 71-28 in the Senate and 240-186 in the House with bipartisan support.

The spending deal reached by Congress yesterday will fund the government through the end of the 2017 federal fiscal year in September.

News links:
What’s in the spending agreement? We read it so you don’t have to. (WaPo)
The more exhaustive list, alphabetized.
Seven things to know about the government funding deal (The Hill)
The high profile highlights.

The full text of the bill is here. (PDF)

Takeaways:
No wall, but $1.5 billion for other border security
Planned Parenthood intact
NIH funding went up by $2 billion
Defense goes up by $15 billion
Coal Miners healthcare extended permanently but doesn't address their pension fund
$68 million to reimburse New York City and Florida for Trump's protection details while in his other residences
IRS funding at last year's levels
HHS gets $800 million (4x increase) for opioid crisis
EPA funding only decreases 1 percent, but limits some of their regulatory power
Increases for USGS ($23 million), Fish & Wildlife ($11 million), and NASA ($368 million)
NSF and other science agencies at same/similar levels to last year
Food Stamp funding went down by $2.4 billion
Medicaid funding aid for Puerto Rico at $295 million

Follow up actions:
This is an opportunity to thank your congress people for specific provisions in the budget and to keep hammering on the importance of your issues.