Let's see if there's any disagreements. USD is sure to have a...

Let's see if there's any disagreements. USD is sure to have a negative feeling.

BUDGET BRIEFS:

• APPROPRIATIONS: A federal government shutdown at midnight December 11, 2015remains a possibility if disagreements over policy riders prevent the Administration and Congress from coming to agreement on an omnibus appropriations bill for FY 2016. The new fiscal year began October 1, 2015 with the government remaining open under a temporary continuing resolution that expires December 11.
  
  Contentious riders could include provisions to: bar funding for planned Parenthood; block use of funds to resettle Syrian and Iraqi refugees; block the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan regulations (limiting CO2 emissions from existing power plants); and block regulations to clarify which waters and wetlands can be protected under the federal Clean Water Act. Opponents of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also may seek to include provisions in the spending bill.
  
  In addition to disagreements over policy riders, the underlying funding levels are still being negotiated. Although total appropriations levels for the federal governemnt were set by the budget agreement, specific funding levels for programs, projects, and activities continue to be negotiated. Key funding issues that remain to be resolved are how to pay for desired increases in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and how to pay for backlogs in National Park maintenance.
• TRANSPORTATION / HIGHWAY FUNDING: In addition to the Dec. 11 deadline for appropriations, Congress faces a Dec. 4 deadline for expiration of the latest stopgap highway funding measure. House Transportation and Infrastructure Comm. Chairman Bill Shuster told Bloomberg that conferees on a 6-year reauthorization bill are expected to file a conference report on Monday, Nov. 30 when Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess.
• TAX EXTENDERS: Another issue facing Congress in December is how to address more than 50 expired tax breaks and incentives -- the so-called "tax extenders," that expired at the end of 2014. The extenders include provisions impacting businesses, individuals, nonprofits, and the energy sector. (Click here for a list of the 52 extenders.) The Senate Finance Committee has reported legislation (S. 1946) that would retroactively extend expired provisions through 2016. The House Ways & Means Committee has pursued a different path, aiming to permanently extend only some of the 52 provisions and let the others expire. The House approach would make permanent the R&E tax credit (H.R. 880), expensing of investments (H.R. 636, S. 1399), and treatment of built-in gains for Subchapter S corporations (H.R. 636). Click here for a CRS update on Business Tax Extenders.