The House and Senate are in session this week.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, H.R. 1625, is packed full of legislative priorities for leadership and other items to get enough votes for passage. Most of what was negotiated and slipped into the Consolidated Appropriations Act, known as the “omnibus,” behind closed doors is bad for taxpayers or just bad policy. Unfortunately, amendments that were previously passed by the House to prevent the Department of Justice from ramping up its use of civil asset forfeiture were not included in the bill.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters earlier today that the government spending bill will be released late Tuesday evening, likely right before midnight. The House will vote on Thursday. The Senate will follow. As long as the bill isn't amended, the bill will subsequently go to the president's desk. But the process has cast a dark cloud for this spending bill. And the $1.3 trillion at which Congress will appropriate is also a reminder of a bad budget deal Congress recently passed.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

As the economy begins to take off as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the next big thing we're going to see is a need for workers.

The federal government shutdown at midnight on Saturday because the Senate was not able to pass a spending deal. Both the House and Senate were in session on Saturday and Sunday. Members from both parties in both chambers spent time blaming each other for the shutdown. House and Senate Democrats also spent a lot of time on the floor blaming President Trump.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to support the Federal Reserve Regulatory Oversight Act, H.R. 4755, introduced by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). The bill would increase oversight over the Federal Reserve, whose regulatory power is far too overreaching, by subjecting its regulatory activities to the congressional appropriations process.

The House and Senate are in session this week.