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The 116^th Congress convened, and for the first time in eight years, Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected Speaker of the House which marks only the second time in history that a former Speaker has been re-elected after losing the majority in his/her previous tenure. 63 new Democrats and 37 Republicans began their first term in Congress, which is the most diverse in history and includes over 100 women.

Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional leaders from both parties met with President Trump met this morning to discuss how to end the current partial government shutdown, but little progress was made on finding a solution for funding a wall along our southern border, which is the key sticking point to ending the current government shutdown. There will be staff negotiations over the weekend in the hopes of finding a compromise that will reopen federal agencies that have been closed as a result of the partial shutdown.

 

The first order of business for the new House Democratic majority was to address the shutdown by passing a FY 19 spending bill that would provide funding for the rest of the year for agencies impacted by the partial government closure, as well as reopen the Department of Homeland Security through early February while negotiations over the wall continue. However, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has indicated that he will not bring the bill to the Senate floor as President Trump opposes it. As a result, the shutdown could continue for the foreseeable future.

 

Thankfully, the FY 19 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which provides funding for the Department of Education was enacted in October and as a result, adult education programs are not impacted by the partial shutdown.