Hoyer, in a letter to his colleagues, announcing plans to take up a continued resolution during the week of september 16. Do you see any issues with congress not being able to fund the federal government this year . Erik im not worried about a Government Shutdown ahead of the october 1 start of the new year. Im worried about a Government Shutdown in december or beyond, reprising the 35 day shutdown we saw at the beginning of this year. The continued resolution it will probably pass easily. There may be an attempt in the senate to pass a defense bill, as an attachment to that. There is interest among republicans to get that out of the way. Democrats dont want to let the bill go, and be left with a threat that their priorities and domestic spending world would not get addressed. November o early sorry, late november, early december, which we will see larger battles. In recent weeks, we found out the pentagon has finalized a list of military products projects that would aid it trumps border wall. That is sure to be an issue. Homeland security bill, a host of other issues related to senses funding, gun violence that could provoke a real showdown. December is where it is at as far as a risk of a Government Shutdown. Bloomberg is reporting on that story. The headline trump spurs lawmaker outline, with a shift to pentagon money to the wall. They are taking funds out of military construction to fund the southern border wall. Do you see this as presenting a problem in the deliberations over the 2020 spending . Erik it certainly will. There are aspects in the appropriations bill and the house that would attempt to limit trumps ability to transfer money to fund a border wall. The National Defense authorization act that passed of the house needs to reconcile with a similar provision. This will be an issue. One that democrats say republicans should be worried about. This is the executive branch taking away the person we saw some members like michael he and mitt romney from utah who were affected by this, calling for more at times by congress to clawback its powers. Multiple Mass Shootings this summer have prompted calls for legislation additional for additional legislation on gun violence prevention at of the Judiciary Committee, set to move on new guncontrol legislation. Even though they have postponed about hearing, they will pick it up when Congress Comes back. Tell us about the legislation they are expected to take up and what do you think the timetable on that is . Erik erik the house already passed and expanded background checks bill. A lot of pressure being placed on Mitch Mcconnell to bring that up, especially from chuck schumer. The Judiciary Committee is looking at highcapacity magazines. This would be the ability to shoot 100 or more bullets as we saw in the dayton shooting, really allowing the killer to take out people within 30 seconds. There is going to be an attempt to do that. The house is not yet looking at a renewal of the assault weapons ban. That is very controversial in the swing districts. That has not yet been put on the table. The real question is in the senate. Mitch mcconnell recently said he would defer to president trump. He is willing to put something on the senate floor if the president backs it. Meeting with is people to come up with a bill that would satisfy his base, probably some of the n. R. A. Supporting members of his administration, as well is addressing the gun violence issue. It has not emerged as to what the president will be backing. He seemed to flipflop on the issue. He said background checks would not necessarily have stopped it from happening. Chuck schumer tweeted his response to Mitch Mcconnell saying in august, our country was devastated by Mass Shootings. I am urging my colleagues to keep up the pressure on Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell to address the gun violence epidemic in many other pressing issues. We heard reports democratic senator joe manchin had met with president trump. Might there be some wiggle room in what Mitch Mcconnell had to say . Erik there was no real decision made. Members trying to negotiate this have been saying there is hope for a deal with the republicans. There could be something on a smaller scale. Chris coons from delaware has said perhaps theres the ability to let states get more information from fbi background checks where states are not getting that from the system. There will be an attempt to address that potentially. Let me ask you about the u. S. Canadamexico trade agreement. You tweeted that House Democrats were told the usmca talks are still ongoing. No timeline for a vote. Is that still a top priority for bipartisan leadership in the house and senate . Erik the trump administrated want to get one and done in the summer. That obviously did not happen. Exchanging negotiations. However, it did not go quite as expected. It was much slower than hope. There are four main issues. Labor, environment, drug patent protection. Those are still outstanding. Richard neal told House Democrats he is waiting to see Bob Lighthizer come back with a full written counterproposal to the democratic demands. That may be delivered in the coming days by lighthizer who was scheduled to meet with the House Working Group on trade. That could accelerate the timeline for a possible vote this fall. Elizabeth warren was a member of the House Working Group and told reporters it could seep into next year. In terms of specific house and senate floor action, the senate will resume the liberations on nominations. We expect the house to be working on bills banning the drilling of offshore oil and gas. What else are you looking forward to in the fall as the house and senate come back . Erik one thing to keep your eye on his prescription drugs. With aas a major bill 199 vote. The Senate Health Committee Also passed a bill. Those are possibly going to be combined and brought to the senate floor in the coming months. The president has talked repeatedly about prescription drugs being a top issue and may throw his weight behind it. Nancy pelosi is set to unveil a house approach that would address payments to medicare and the ability to cap outofpocket expenses for seniors. That is expected to come to the floor. Those could be combined and form a major piece of legislation heading into the fall. However, with gridlock ahead of the election, it is not a guarantee. Lots to cover. Erik wasson on top of that all for bloomberg, congressional reporting. Thanks, as always, for the update. Erik thank you. A forum now on president trumps relationship with Jewish Voters compared to previous administrations, including shifting Political Sentiment toward israel and other countries in the middle east. Georgetown university hosted this 90minute event
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