Congress Takes on Spending Bills, but Fights Loom

Compared with last fall's ferocious struggle, Congress should face fewer hurdles this year in its annual effort to keep the government funded.

That doesn't mean it will be easy, though.

Few expect to see anything like a repeat of last year's cataclysmic budget battle that ended in a 16-day partial government shutdown. That is in large part because of the two-year bipartisan budget deal that both chambers approved in December, which includes an agreement to cap