Congress:
On December 2nd, the Senate passed their version of the tax reform bill, which includes a sweeping reforms to the US tax code, as well as other key issues important to conservatives. The House and Senate are expected to convene a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the chambers’ bills.
Congress is expected to take up a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2018 before the current resolution expires on December 8th. The new CR is expected to continue funding the government through December 22nd. If an agreement is not found before the expiration of the December 22nd CR, it is expected that another will be passed through January to give appropriators time to finalize their FY18 spending bills.
Advocacy:
BEC participated in InterAction’s Advocacy Day on November 15th. Additionally, BEC signed onto a letter to SFOP members, urging them to use the higher basic education numbers in the House Appropriations bill in the final FY18 spending bills. BEC also signed onto a letter to House and Senate Budget Committee members, urging them to maintain the International Affairs spending levels. Finally, BEC spearheaded a letter, with 17 organizations, to House and Senate Appropriators, urging them to adopt the higher House funding levels for Basic Education.