Kelsey Snell
Kelsey Snell is a Congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress since 2010 for outlets including The Washington Post, Politico and National Journal. She has covered elections and Congress with a reporting specialty in budget, tax and economic policy. She has a graduate degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago.
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Senate leaders have reached a budget pact to increase spending for the Pentagon and domestic programs, offering a reprieve from fiscal fights that have been a cloud over Capitol Hill. -
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is launching an unpredictable process Monday, affording lawmakers the chance to bring any ideas to the floor. "Whoever gets to 60 [votes] wins," he said. -
Now that Congress has passed a two-year budget deal they will move ahead on immigration legislation, but it's not clear what kind of plan could pass. Many Republicans also remain sore over an increase in deficit spending.
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Delay tactics forced a short-term partial government shutdown after midnight, but Congress and the president approved the two-year deal early Friday morning. -
If lawmakers fail to reach a deal, that would mean the second shutdown in less than a month. And there are still a lot of big issues to work through — including immigration.
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The bill to keep the government funded until March 23 goes to the Senate, which is expected to change it. Senate leaders say they are closer than ever to reaching a long-term budget deal. -
Government funding runs out at midnight unless Congress can come to an agreement on spending, immigration and potentially other issues.
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Congress voted to restore funding through Feb. 8 after an agreement to pursue immigration bills in the coming weeks. The White House says the government will resume normal operations on Tuesday. -
It's not yet clear that there is enough support to restore government funding. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out plans to consider immigration legislation in coming weeks if the shutdown ends. -
The short-term measure passed the House Thursday evening after a key bloc of conservative Republicans said they would support it. Passage in the Senate is still unclear as funding runs out Friday.
