Category: Border Security

President Trump, Congress Agree to 3-Week Shutdown Reprieve As Negotiations Proceed Over Border Security

Posted on by Trey Jackson

President Trump today announced an agreement with congressional Democrats to reopen the federal government for three weeks—under the condition that negotiations proceed over border security, including his demand for a wall on the Mexican border.

After announcing the agreement, President Trump added, “We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier.  If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shutdown on Feb. 15 again or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and constitution of the United States to address this emergency.” 
(C-Span, Jan. 25)

  • The short-term agreement comes after two bills in the Senate to reopen the government failed yesterday, largely along party lines.  Today’s agreement would pave the way for Congress to quickly pass a Continuing Resolution (CR), restoring operations to approximately 25 percent of government agencies affected by the shutdown and providing back pay for 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed or told to report to work without pay. 
  • The agreement would allow funding for agencies affected by the shutdown to continue at current levels through Feb. 15—including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees border and immigration issues (such as the EB-5 investment program).   The deal would also require negotiations to proceed between the House and Senate over a full-year DHS funding bill that would address all aspects of border security.   
  • After announcing the agreement, Trump added, “We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier.  If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shutdown on Feb. 15 again or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and constitution of the United States to address this emergency.” (C-Span, Jan. 25)
  • The Senate approved the funding legislation tonight by a voice vote. The House followed, passing the CR by unanimous consent and sending the bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.  (The Hill and CNNand  Associated Press, Jan. 25)
  • The reprieve comes as airports along the East Coast reported delays today due to a lack of air traffic controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported flight delays to LaGuardia Airport in New York, Newark’s Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Philadelphia International Airport. (FAA Statement, Jan. 25)
  • Earlier this week, three aviation unions — the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the Air Line Pilots Association and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA — issued a statement citing the shutdown’s increasing threat to air transportation safety.  “We cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break.  It is unprecedented,” according to the statement. (AFA news release, Jan 23)

During the shutdown, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deactivated the website of its Energy Star program. The Roundtable’s Sustainability Advisory Policy Committee (SPAC) has worked closely with EPA on both their Energy Star whole-building and tenant-space labeling programs.

  • The shutdown also posed a risk that payments by federal tenants to office owners could not be met. The General Services Administration (GSA), which makes the government’s rent payments in arrears after the end of the month, faced the repercussions of the shutdown by posting a message on its website to landlords.  The GSA stated it “is aware of concerns from the Lessor community regarding GSA’s ability to make timely rent payments,” and “is diligently exploring all available options.”  (Bisnow, Jan. 18)  A map showing the GSA’s lease footprint illustrated the potential impact of the shutdown, as the agency rents over 187 million square feet for federal workers and business. (Bloomberg, Jan. 4)
  • During the shutdown, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deactivated the website of its Energy Star program.  The deactivation could impact local-level regulatory compliance deadlines in major urban markets that require owners to use EPA’s tools to benchmark and publicly disclose building energy consumption data.  The Roundtable’s Sustainability Advisory Policy Committee (SPAC) has worked closely with EPA on both their Energy Star whole-building and tenant-space labelingprograms.
  • On Jan. 17, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) wrote to EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler requesting information on the Energy Star’s site deactivation.   Pallone also announced this week that the full Committee will hold a hearing on Jan. 31 about the impact of the shutdown on affected agencies within its jurisdiction.

The impact of the partial government shutdown and prospects for a long-term resolution beyond Feb. 15 will be a focus of discussion during The Roundtable’s State of the Industry Meeting and Policy Advisory Committee meetings on Jan. 29-30 in Washington, DC.

Partial Government Shutdown Continues Over Border Wall Disagreement

Posted on by Trey Jackson

Unless an agreement with Congress is reached soon, President Trump this week indicated he is considering declaring a national emergency in order to fund the construction of a border wall on the southern border.  A national emergency declaration would face significant legislative and legal opposition, yet it could create a path to end the partial government shutdown that tomorrow will become the longest in U.S history, exceeding the 21-day shutdown of 1995-96.  (New York Times, Jan. 9 / NBC News, Jan. 10 / Politico, Jan. 10

Unless an agreement with Congress is reached soon, President Trump this week indicated he is considering declaring a national emergency in order to fund the construction of a border wall on the southern border.

  • Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that if the current situation is prolonged, it would start to noticeably affect the economy.  “If we have an extended shutdown, I do think that would show up in the data pretty clear.”  Powell added that  the full economic impact of closed government agencies is difficult to track because data usually provided by the Commerce Department is not currently available, due to the shutdown.  (Economic Club of Washington  video interview at 13:30, Jan. 10)
  • Nine of the 15 Cabinet-level departments remain unfunded, including Agriculture, Homeland Security, State, Transportation, Interior and Justice.  800,000 federal workers won’t receive paychecks due today. (AP, Jan. 11).  Historically, federal workers ultimately do receive back pay for government shutdowns.
  • According to S&P Global Ratings Chief U.S. Economist Beth Ann Bovino, “We estimated that this shutdown could shave approximately $1.2 billion off real GDP in the quarter for each week that part of the government is closed.” (CNBC, Jan. 11) White House Council of Economic Kevin Hassett last week offered a similar assessment, estimating economic output would decrease by about 0.1 percent every two weeks. (Bloomberg, Jan. 3)
  • President Trump this week cancelled a planned Jan. 21 trip to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after recently saying he may keep the government closed for “months or even years.”  (Time, Jan. 10 and AP, Jan. 4) 

    Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that if the current situation is prolonged, it would start to noticeably affect the economy.  “If we ave an extended shutdown, I do think that would show up in the data pretty clear.”  (Economic Club of Washington video interview at 13:30, Jan. 10, 2019)

  • Despite the shutdown, The IRS announced this week that the 2018 tax filing season will begin on Jan. 28.  Last year, the IRS issued nearly $300 billion in tax refunds to 102 million taxpayers between January and May, with an average refund of more than $2,700.  Any major disruption in tax refunds could dampen economic growth.  A detailed IRS contingency plan for handling the tax filing season and enforcement and taxpayer assistance is expected soon. (IRS, Jan. 7 and TIME, Jan. 9) 
  • Additionally, until the shutdown ends, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program and federal cleanups at Superfund sites around the nation are suspended.
  • The National Association of Realtors yesterday reported that the partial shutdown is starting to cause transactional delays related to federal housing, mortgage, and other programs of interest to the real estate industry (NAR, Jan. 10). 
  • “All the fluctuations that’s going on puts a pause on companies deciding what long-term investments to make,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “Do they actively purchase a commercial property knowing there could be further disruption in the future? They could be more hesitant or go on a more [smaller] scale.”  (Commercial Observer, Jan. 2)
  • Negotiations over the border wall impasse broke down this week when President Trump ended a meeting with Democratic leaders. Trump tweeted that the meeting had been a “total waste of time” and reported that when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told him that Democrats wouldn’t approve border-wall funding, “I said bye-bye, nothing else works!”  (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 10) 

The effects of the government shutdown and prospects for policymaking in the new Congress will be topics for discussion during The Roundtable’s Jan. 29-30 State of the Industry Meeting in Washington, DC.