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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE: The House and Senate are in a "lame duck" session of Congress through Dec. 14. A lame duck session of Congress describes the period between the November election and the swearing in of the new Congress in January. The new 116 th Congress will convene on Jan. 3, 2019. FINAL TALLY FOLLOWING MIDTERM ELECTION: The Nov. 6 midterm election flipped the House to a Democratic majority while keeping the Senate in Republican control. NATCA closely monitored the elections that occurred at the federal level, which included all 435 seats in the U.S. House and 35 seats in the U.S. Senate. • Political Makeup of 116 th Congress: See below. These numbers are almost final, but two races remain uncalled at this time. o House: 233 Democrats, 200 Republicans o Senate: 53 Republicans, 47 Democrats/Independents o Uncalled: Two House races (Calif.-21 and N.M.-2) LOOMING THREAT OF A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: As mentioned in previous updates, Government Affairs staff continues to believe there is a real threat of a government shutdown once current funding for the FAA, among some other agencies and departments, expires on Dec. 7. Disagreement over funding for President Trump's proposed border wall is at the front and center of the government funding debate, as this may be the last chance for the White House to win wall funding before Democrats take over the House in January. A heated, partisan debate over wall funding could lead to a partial government shutdown – which would include the FAA. FAA Funding Expires Dec. 7: The FAA receives funding via the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill. The Agency is currently operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that provides funding through Dec. 7 at the Fiscal Year (FY 2018) funding levels. A new, FY 2019 funding bill for THUD was not enacted into law by the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1. In order to prevent a partial government shutdown at that time, Congress passed a short-term CR to provide funding for those federal agencies and departments that did not receive full-year funding. During the lame duck, Congress could try to pass the THUD appropriations bill as part of a "minibus" spending package which also includes Agriculture, Interior-Environment, and Financial Services appropriations bills, but that seems unlikely as of this writing. If Congress is unable to pass THUD before the Dec. 7 deadline, Congress may pass another CR to avoid a partial government shutdown, or funding could lapse and departments/agencies not funded for FY 2019 would have to initiate a partial shutdown. GA is working with members of Congress and staff on a number of fronts to ensure they are aware of the negative impact a shutdown has on the NAS, as well as looking at all

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