Congress has little time to avoid a government shutdown that is set to begin at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1. They are nowhere near an agreement.

Congress has little time to avoid a government shutdown that is set to begin at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1. They are nowhere near an agreement.

After a six-week summer recess, lawmakers return to the Capitol on Monday facing a changed political landscape but a vexing, very familiar problem: figuring out how to avert a shutdown.

They have just three weeks to do so. Funding for the government runs out at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and former President Donald Trump is urging Republicans to force a shutdown unless certain demands are met. A shutdown would close federal agencies and national parks, while limiting public services and furloughing millions of workers just weeks before the election.

The presidential race looms over the final stretch for Congress; it is expected to leave again at the end of the month and return after Election Day. When the House left town for its summer break on July 25, President Joe Biden had just dropped out of the presidential race, Democrats were preparing to pick Vice President Kamala Harris as their new standard bearer, and Republicans were rushing to draw up a new playbook against Harris.

House Republicans have now settled on some lines of attack, which they’ll highlight in politically charged GOP hearings and investigations into both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on issues from border security to the Afghanistan withdrawal.

  • macarthur_park@lemmy.world
    31·
    4 months ago

    As usual, Rep. Jeff Jackson (D, NC) offers an insightful take on how this will play out in congress:

    The government won’t shut down.

    Instead, we’ll play our familiar game.

    In round one, the right-flank will demand various poison pills in the government funding bill in exchange for their support. The Speaker will pretend to agree with them. He’ll even do TV interviews where he loudly tells us how much he agrees with them. He really has to sell how much he agrees with them… because of what he’ll do in round two.

    Round two is the Speaker throwing his right-flank under the bus and saying no to all their demands.

    There are a few ways he can do that, but the most likely path is that he’ll let their version of a funding bill pass the House and then become dead-on-arrival in the Senate. At which point, he’ll turn to his right-flank and say, “Guys, you know I tried. You watched me try. I did all those interviews where I agreed with you. But it looks like we’re outta moves here, so unfortunately I have to remove your excellent suggestions from the budget bill. Really sorry about that.”

    Round three is the right-flank pretending to be upset and going on TV to blast the Speaker for his “weakness” - but in reality, losing this fight works well for them.

    Why?

    Because pretending to be upset on TV is their favorite thing to do, so they won’t be genuinelyupset with the Speaker because he’s giving them an excuse to do it. As I’ve seen many times, this is a group that would rather accept a policy defeat that opens a political opportunity than give up a political opportunity to achieve a policy victory.

    So don’t buy the hoopla. Things will get super contentious leading up to September 30th (when the money to fund the federal government runs out), but we’ll get it done.

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