"I don't see how they solve it before their next deadline," McClusky told CNA.
Although the Senate was considering a dozen appropriations bills to fund various government agencies for the 2020 financial year, several bills have stalled because of partisan debates over border wall funding and abortion.
Earlier in the month, two attempts were made to insert pro-abortion "poison pill" amendments into appropriations bills that would have repealed two Trump administration pro-life policies: the Title X "Protect Life Rule," and the "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" policy -- the administration's expanded Mexico City Policy. Those policies, respectively, set up protections against taxpayer funding of domestic and international abortion providers or promoters.
"What Sen. Shelby did today does attack the Global Health Rule," McClusky said, in that it "sets a ground floor" for future fights over funding of foreign groups that promote or perform abortions.
McClusky also warned that the coming months would see the possible adoption of a "CRomnibus," or the combination of another short-term funding resolution for some government agencies-a "CR"-with a comprehensive funding bill of other government agencies for FY 2020-an "omnibus" bill.
That could be problematic, he said, because a large, comprehensive funding bill could invite more pro-abortion amendments.
Also on Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as the next Secretary of Labor.
Scalia, one of nine children, is a labor, employment, and regulatory lawyer and has served as a high-ranking official at the Labor Department.
He was formerly a speechwriter for then-Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, then served as a special assistant to former-and-current-Attorney General William P. Barr in 1992-93. In 2001, Scalia joined the Department of Labor as Solicitor of Labor.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Sept. 19, Scalia cited his previous work within the agency, including helping to resolve a labor dispute at ports on the West Coast and cases involving "low-wage and immigrant workers."
"The most affecting part of the job for me was encountering individual workers in sometimes tragic circumstances, and recognizing the capacity we had to respond," Scalia said.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
At Catholic News Agency, our team is committed to reporting the truth with courage, integrity, and fidelity to our faith. We provide news about the Church and the world, as seen through the teachings of the Catholic Church. When you subscribe to the CNA UPDATE, we'll send you a daily email with links to the news you need and, occasionally, breaking news.
As part of this free service you may receive occasional offers from us at EWTN News and EWTN. We won't rent or sell your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
"The construction workers killed in trenching accidents. The twelve miners in Alabama who gave their lives trying to save a co-worker's. Migrant workers whose sacrifice for their families was preyed upon by others."
Scalia faced tough questions from Sen. Patti Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member on the committee, along with other Democrats on his record of defending corporations and on his beliefs on the rights of workers identifying as LGBTQ. Scalia confirmed that a company firing an employee because of their sexual orientation or so-called gender identity was "wrong."
When asked if he thought Title VII of the Civil Rights Act applied workplace protections to sexual orientation and gender identity, Scalia said "We'll see what the Court decides." The Supreme Court this fall will hear oral arguments in a bundle of cases involving Title VII protections.
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.