WASHINGTON–So, the Senate has voted in favor of moving forward on ending the federal government shutdown and that’s that, right? Not at all, according to one Hill analyst, who shared a civics lesson into all the work, politics and procedures that remain to be tackled before paychecks start being issued again and various federal offices re-open.
During a call with the media, here’s how Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer with the Defense Credit Union Council who has also served as a Senate staffer, described the convoluted process that remains ahead this week and possibly into next.
“The Senate invoked cloture for the spending package to move forward. Obviously, that’s a bright ray of sunshine for thousands of federal employees that have been furloughed, but also for active service members and their families,” Stverak said. “(The Senate vote) provides for a new continuing resolution that takes us to the end of January and also includes three minibuses, or three of the 13 spending bills that are supposed to be done during regular order. Those include funding for military construction and the VA, the full year-long spending packages (for the Department of Agriculture), as well as the appropriations for the legislative branch of government.
Those Fired to be Re-Hired
“In addition, in the text that the Senate is advancing it rolls back any reductions in forces or firings that occurred from the shutdown that started on Oct. 1st,” Stverak continued. “Where that is beneficial to credit unions is our hope that that includes or covers the termination of essentially the entire CDFI department at Treasury so that those individuals would be able to come back (and administer the program) for CDFI institutions all across this country. In addition, it is my understanding it prevents (reductions in force) from now through the end of the CR.”
Stverak said it is DCUC’s understanding that the Senate package includes full funding for any missed payroll and missed benefits for those who have not gotten their paychecks. As the CU Daily has reported, countless credit unions have been providing assistance to federal employees but questions remain over how those who have received the assistance will be able to repay their credit unions.
Unanswered Questions
“We don’t know what that means. Does it come as a lump sum? Does it come as part of their next regularly scheduled paycheck? From our understanding, that’s all to be worked out and, obviously, that continues to put additional stress on credit unions that have been waving payments,” said Stverak.
As an example, he cited Keesler FCU in Mississippi, which has been replacing the full paychecks of members who had been having their pay deposited with the credit union.
“There is a lot of unnecessary headaches and red tape that will need to get cut through, but at least we are moving forward,” said Stverak.
But as he also made clear, that moving forward will be anything but a straight-line sprint.
“The Senate is very particular in its rules and how things are handled, but they can only waive time or time requirements with a unanimous consent,” Stverak explained. “Essentially, they could have voted on the legislation (Sunday night), but not all 100 senators agreed to allow the waving of the Senate rules, so they voted on cloture on the motion to proceed.”
The Timeline
What that means, said Stverak, is that unless there is unanimous consent in the Senate it has 30 hours to proceed, which requires 51 votes, and then the Senate will file substitute language in a new package that will include (all the items) “they want to include in there and then they file culture on the underlying bill. Senate rules say there is supposed to be an intervening day, so that would be Tuesday. You can waive that rule if all 100 senators agree, but if they don’t, then you look for cloture on Wednesday at about 1:00 p.m. They’ll need 60 votes and we believe the 60 votes are there.
“Then, that starts the clock again so that on Thursday at about 7:30 (the Senate) can adopt all of the new agreements and the new legislative text and then, about 8:00 p.m., you can vote on cloture on the bill and then you have debate time,” Stverak explained. “So, unless they again don’t waive that rule, it’s going to be likely around 2:30 in the morning (on Sunday) in the Senate when (they) could be voting on the package to then send to the House.”
No So Fast, My Friends
If only it were so “simple,” according to Stverak, because that plan could be interrupted.
“Now, this could get short-circuited if the Senate agrees to waive some of its rules. That’s not expected and if people were expecting a snap of the fingers and the government would open this morning and all the air traffic controllers would show up, there still is a process of at least a week to get this done,” Stverak said.
On the House side, the Speaker has told members they are on a 36-hour return, meaning they a day-and-a-half to return to Washington.
“The House can move things a lot quicker, but if I have to go to the Rules Committee, take it to the floor, do the debate and take a vote,” that requires time,” he stated, adding there is also an unwritten rule in the House that members be provided 72 hours to review the bill.
“That’ll likely get waived or kind of just bypassed to get this legislation going,” Stverak said. “Depending on how long the Senate takes…it might not get over the House until this weekend and the final votes aren’t taken until Sunday or Monday and then it will be sent to the president’s desk. There are a lot of things that need to happen.”
Another Payroll Date Looming
For credit unions and their members, Stverak reminded there is another federal payroll due on Nov. 14 and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said there are no more unobligated defense funds available to pay members of the military, as was done for what otherwise would have been two missed paychecks in October.
“So, they’re still facing at the end of this week the potential for the military to not get paid,” Stverak said. “That’s disheartening and we would encourage both the House and the Senate to move with as judicious an amount of speed as possible.”
