Americans are 10 days away from a federal government shutdown and Republicans still can't agree on a way out
- The government runs out of funding after September 30, and a potential shutdown looms.
- However, Republicans can't get it together to figure out a way out of a shutdown.
There's a funding crisis looming over Congress, and Republicans' disarray might just mean the government shuts down in 10 days.
The government will run out of funding after September 30, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy still cannot get his own party to agree on a solution that would prevent that from happening.
While it appeared GOP lawmakers made some progress toward averting a government shutdown over the weekend by presenting a short-term continuing resolution that would maintain funding through October 31, the resolution was pulled on Tuesday without going to a vote before the full House because it did not have enough party support.
That resolution would have enacted a nearly 8% "across-the-board" cut to discretionary spending, along with increased border protections — both major conservative priorities. Even so, it couldn't even make it onto the floor, with McCarthy telling reporters, per the Hill, that he was "just recircling it; we have people talking together."
To make matters worse for McCarthy, he failed to pass his party's military spending bill the same day because five conservative lawmakers joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. After the vote, McCarthy walked off the floor, according to PBS.
The shutdown tension comes after Republicans and Democrats averted a potentially catastrophic debt ceiling default, with Biden ultimately agreeing to spending cuts in exchange for raising the ceiling through 2025. Now, Republicans want further cuts.
Disagreements within the party — and across the aisle — are making the prospect of a government shutdown in just under two weeks increasingly likely. The conservative holdouts have other Republican lawmakers frustrated.
"If the clown show of colleagues that refuse to actually govern doesn't want to pass the CR, I will do everything we need to make sure that a CR passes," GOP Rep. Mike Lawler told CNN. "The bottom line is we're not shutting the government down."
At this rate, though, it's hard to see a path that does not include a shutdown. Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern blasted McCarthy's leadership on the House floor on Tuesday, saying that "the patients are running the hospital around here."
"They're so incompetent, it takes my breath away," McGovern said. "They're letting the clowns run the circus."
Meanwhile, the White House has been sounding the alarm on the ramifications of a potential shutdown. A shutdown, according to a White House memo, could mean military personnel going without pay, fewer childcare slots for kids, travel delays as TSA officers and air controllers go without pay, and delayed infrastructure projects.
"These consequences are real and avoidable — but only if House Republicans stop playing political games with peoples' lives and catering to the ideological demands of their most extreme, far-right members," the memo said. "It's time for House Republicans to abide by the bipartisan budget agreement that a majority of them voted for, keep the government open, and address other urgent needs for the American people."
If Congress fails to reach an agreement on government funding by the end of the month, the Office of Management and Budget has contingency plans for every federal agency outlining the actions they should take in the event of limited appropriations. With McCarthy's leadership being challenged by his own party's members, those plans might need to be dusted off very soon.