WASHINGTON — Congress has 12 days left to pass a short-term government funding bill before the shutdown deadline. However, leaders in the Republican House of Representatives and the Democratic Senate see no reason to start negotiations yet.
Instead, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives tried Wednesday to pass a six-month resolution that included a bill requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, but were unsuccessful.
The 202-220 The vote in the House of Representatives, in which two representatives participated and 14 Republicans were in opposition, came shortly after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called on lawmakers to force a government shutdown as leverage to force the passage of the voter ID law.
“If Republicans don’t understand the SAVE Act and every bit of it, they should not agree to a continuation resolution in any way, shape or form,” Trump wrote on social media, reiterating a statement about the shutdown he made last week.
The unsuccessful vote in the House could give House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, room to negotiate with the Senate.
But with Congress only a week left until the end of the session and entering a six-week recess for elections, leaders do not have much time to find consensus, draft a bill, hold votes in both chambers and get President Joe Biden’s signature.
Johnson, who was repeatedly questioned by reporters on Wednesday about the possibility of a shutdown, did not completely rule out a funding shortfall from October 1.
“We’ll see what happens with the bill,” Johnson said before the vote. “We’re in the middle of the game on the field, the quarterback is calling the play, and we’re going to execute it.”
The Senate is to blame
Johnson criticized the Senate for not moving further in the annual appropriations process and tried to blame the chamber for a makeshift spending bill and a possible shutdown.
The Senate Budget Committee passed 11 full-year budget funding bills this summer with mostly bipartisan majorities, but ran into difficulties with the funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security.
The House Budget Committee passed all of its dozens of bills with the votes of its fellow Democrats and was able to pass five of them with Republican support, but did not receive broad support from Democrats.
The leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate have so far not allowed the two chambers to begin considering bills passed either by committee or by the plenary, although this has happened regularly in recent years.
It is highly unlikely that politicians will put any more full-year budget proposals to a vote in the fall, making the election result the biggest piece of the puzzle that will change between now and the end of the calendar year.
McConnell: Shutdown would be “politically more than stupid”
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly called on his colleagues to prevent a shutdown. However, he has not yet participated in negotiations on a stopgap bill and does not seem inclined to do so.
“I think we’ll have to wait and see what the House sends us,” McConnell said during a press conference on Tuesday. “My only observation on this whole discussion is that there can be no government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid to do that right before the election, because we would certainly get blamed for it.”
McConnell then referred to the adage that “the second kick of a mule does not bring education,” noting that the question of whether to fund the government for a few more months “will ultimately come down to a discussion between” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Johnson.
“I am for anything that prevents a government shutdown,” McConnell added.
Drama in the election year
Support for a stopgap budget has been a staple of Congress’ annual budget process for nearly three decades, during which time lawmakers have failed to approve all of the full-year budget bills before the October 1 deadline.
The battle that began in September to pass a continuation resolution to give parliamentarians a little more time to reach a bicameral agreement on spending legislation for the full fiscal year has become increasingly dramatic this year as the election-year political situation has led to an intensification of the din.
In a divided government, any bill to fund the government must be approved by both parties, otherwise a shutdown is virtually guaranteed.
The House of Representatives’ failed six-month continuation resolution was also not supported by the majority of Republican senators.
Republican senators argued that the timeline was too lengthy and could affect the chamber’s ability to confirm the next president’s Cabinet in the early months of 2025.
Republicans in the Senate and defense hawks in the House also said leaving the Defense Department on autopilot for half of the next fiscal year would be an abdication of Congress’s sense of responsibility and a threat to national security.
End date in December in sight
The final interim budget that Congress passes in the next few days will likely be in effect until Dec. 20, the last day Congress is in session this year. It is also unlikely to include the voter registration ID component.
That final bipartisan resolution could also include increased spending for the Secret Service or a provision allowing the agency to spend its interim funds more quickly to bolster Trump’s security after two apparent assassination attempts.
Florida House Republican Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, chairman of the State and Foreign Spending Committee, said Wednesday that if he were to bet, he would expect Congress to pass a stopgap spending bill by mid-December.
“First of all, we cannot afford a shutdown,” said Díaz-Balart. “I think most people here understand that that would be a catastrophe, especially when half the world is on fire.”
During a government shutdown, some federal employees continue to work in the office without pay, while the rest are furloughed until Congress passes a recent funding bill. All federal employees affected by a shutdown receive their pay in arrears.
A shutdown in October of this year would affect all departments and agencies funded through the annual process, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, chairman of the House Budget Subcommittee on Interior and Environmental Affairs, said he was confident there would be no shutdown, but offered no details on how Congress plans to negotiate a bipartisan agreement in the coming days.
“I don’t think anyone wants to shut down the government,” Simpson said. “That’s not a viable option.”
