With President Trump’s 2019 budget proposal now released to the public, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have begun hashing out what Roll Call sees as nearly “insurmountable” differences.

President Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Jeff Pon, will receive a confirmation hearing tomorrow in the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC).

The resurrection of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) – an “expert advisory agency that served as a think tank within Congress from 1972 to 1995, and made important contributions to shaping technology policy in the United States and abroad,” but was eliminated in 1995 – could bring about sweeping improvements to Congress’ decision-making on modernization and other emerging technological challenges, according to a new policy paper released by the R Street Institute.

Nearly three days after the government’s funding lapsed, causing the federal government to shutdown over the weekend and through much of Monday, the U.S. Senate signed another short-term continuing resolution – the fourth such resolution since the Fiscal Year began in October 2017 – that funds the government through February 8th.

Even as budget disagreements from 2017 continue to linger into the new year, conversation is already turning to next year’s budget, with President Trump’s 2019 budget proposal expected sometime next month. In light of that expected milestone, some lawmakers are hoping to get a head-start on negotiations, calling for a 3 percent pay raise for federal employees in 2019.

With Congress returning this week after the holiday break, lawmakers again return to a full docket of business, with another looming government shutdown just ten days away.

With tumultuous negotiations over tax reform and budget proposals at least temporarily behind them, the U.S. House of Representatives concluded the legislative year by passing a package of three bills intended to boost the involvement of women, veterans, and other underrepresented groups in STEM-related occupations, including within the federal government.

Last week, on the cusp of the deadline to pass either a budget or a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operational, Congress passed a two-week continuing resolution, buying itself more time to debate and finalize the components of a final, longer-term deal.

As Congress faces the prospect of passing another short-term continuing resolution, rather than a full-year budget, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told a U.S. Naval Institute forum that the practice has been costly to the agency over the past six years.