December 11, 2014 – 10:52 p.m.

Both the House and Senate have now cleared H. J. Res. 130, a two-day extension of the existing stopgap continuing appropriations resolution, for the President’s signature.  Under OMB precedent, even though the current CR expires at midnight tonight, as long as the President has promised to sign the extension (and does so before the time that federal workers show up for work tomorrow), no government shutdown will occur tonight.

The two-day CR extension will give the Senate time to pass the omnibus appropriations package (the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 83) after the Senate finishes with the pending defense authorization bill (H.R. 3979) but before Saturday afternoon.  And at some time between now and Saturday night, the Senate still has to find a way to deal with the tax extenders bill (H.R. 5771).  The other big item, the terrorism risk insurance extension, appears unlikely to pass before the end of the current Congress.

The House has now finished all of its legislative business for the 113^th Congress, and members are heading home.  Tomorrow, the Senate will finish action on the defense authorization, and then will vote on a series of nominations, and the (presumably) the Majority Leader will tee up the omnibus appropriations bill for some kind of cloture process.