Director’s Desk



Kristin Nicholson | December 5, 2019

Dear Friends,

While December is often a chaotic sprint on Capitol Hill, this year promises to be more intense and unpredictable than ever. Unfortunately, by now we’ve gotten used to holding our collective breath through year-end congressional wrangling over spending bills. True to form, the clock is ticking on a December 20 deadline to approve fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills (or another Continuing Resolution). CQ Roll Call budget reporter Jennifer Shutt has much more on lingering policy disagreements and the outlook for the next couple of weeks here.

Meanwhile, impeachment hangs over everything, amplifying the tension and uncertainty on the Hill. This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the historic, if unsurprising, announcement that the House will proceed with articles of impeachment against President Trump. The likely timetable will include a House vote on impeachment articles before the holiday break, followed by a Senate trial in January. This has left the Senate schedule in flux for early 2020, but you can find what we know of next year’s congressional calendar here.

In this month’s newsletter, Fellow Katina Slavkova delivers some striking new research into the gender gap in national security oversight in and around Congress. You can also catch our most recent podcast on all things appropriations and impeachment here.

From all of us at GAI, we wish you a wonderful holiday season and hope to see you in the new year.

Warmest wishes,

Kristin


Categories: Director's Desk, Media Center, Updates