Congress returns to work this week with less than four weeks of scheduled legislative days left on the 2020 calendar and just 16 days to pass a new budget agreement or risk a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers are expected to approve a continuing resolution in coming days which would extend fiscal 2020 spending past Oct. 1, likely until the end of 2020. Although Congressional committees have made some progress on advancing budget bills in recent months, most officials do not expect them to be finalized until after the November election, if not later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, defense and Veterans Affairs programs are expected to operate for the rest of 2020 at current funding levels, with new program starts and new equipment purchases limited by financial constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Republicans failed to advance a new coronavirus stimulus package last week, making a compromise on that issue unlikely before the election. Lawmakers in both chambers are expected to work until early October on various issues before a month-long break before voters head to the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\r\nTuesday, Sept. 15<\/strong> Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of Sept. 14, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-68305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ADPVHR5J3BBE5GBLTWKQM6HV3U","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/09\/13\/this-week-in-congress-countdown-to-shutdown-election\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n
\r\n
\r\nHouse Foreign Affairs \u2014 11 a.m. \u2014 online hearing
\r\nLatin America <\/i>
\r\nOutside experts will testify on economic and political challenges to U.S. national security in Latin America.
\r\n
\r\nHouse Armed Services \u2014 1 p.m. \u2014 2118 Rayburn
\r\nPFAS clean up<\/i>
\r\nDefense officials will testify before the subcommittee on readiness about efforts to repair environmental damage caused by PFAS contamination at military bases.
\r\n
\r\nWednesday, Sept. 16<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nHouse Veterans’ Affairs \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Visitors Center H210
\r\nEducation technology issues<\/i>
\r\nThe subcommittee on technology will discuss the future of education services information technology.
\r\n
\r\nHouse Foreign Affairs \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 online hearing
\r\nState Department IG<\/i>
\r\nCommittee members will discuss concerns surrounding the firing of the State Department\u2019s inspector general.
\r\n
\r\nHouse Veterans’ Affairs \u2014 2 p.m. \u2014 online hearing
\r\nMedical supply chain<\/i>
\r\nVA officials will discuss lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic about improvements needed in the department\u2019s medical supply chain.
\r\n
\r\nThursday, Sept. 17<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nHouse Homeland Security \u2014 9 a.m. \u2014 Cannon 310
\r\nWorldwide threats <\/i>
\r\nDepartment of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf will testify before the committee on national and international threats.
\r\n
\r\nSenate Armed Services \u2014 9:30 a.m. \u2014 G-50 Dirksen
\r\nNNSA budget<\/i>
\r\nThe committee will discuss the proposed FY21 budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration Budget.
\r\n
\r\nSenate Foreign Relations \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 106 Dirksen
\r\nU.S.-China relations<\/i>
\r\nState Department officials will testify on U.S. and China tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.
\r\n
\r\nHouse Armed Services \u2014 1 p.m. \u2014 2118 Rayburn
\r\nArtificial Intelligence<\/i>
\r\nOfficials from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence will testify on their findings and recommendations.
\r\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"