Congress delays the inevitable a little more than a week from partial shutdown
With so much work on full-year appropriations bills remaining, a short-term funding extension is the consensus solution to the looming deadline.
The government is set to partially shut down a week from tomorrow.
Despite efforts to urgently codify the deal Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reached last Sunday on the overall spending cap for the full-year funding bills, it was always going to take a miracle to write and pass them against a compressed timeline.
That miracle isn’t happening.
So Congress will have to approve a short-term funding extension called a continuing resolution to keep the government open while members and staff finish their work.
This is a reality most people who have a day in the matter have accepted by now.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top House Democratic appropriator, told me on Wednesday that while the Schumer-Johnson agreement opened the door for Congress to pass the dozen bills that fund the government, House and Senate appropriators for those bills still don’t have the funding amount allocated to each.
“If we need a few more weeks, let’s do it,” she said. “But we can get it done. I don’t have a hard and fast date [on how long a CR should last] in my head but I want to see where this takes us.”
In response to calls from some House conservatives who would rather shut the government down for a few weeks than pass a CR, DeLauro pushed back.
“It’s dangerous,” she said of a partial shutdown. “The people who will be furloughed, the services that don’t go to the American people. It’s unconscionable that anyone would suggest that the government shuts down.”
The White House also seized on House Republicans who are calling for a shutdown.
“Americans want their leaders to conduct themselves like President Biden is—reaching across the aisle in good faith to achieve even more progress toward making us safer in the world and more prosperous here at home,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. “The last thing American families deserve is for extreme House Republicans to plunge the country into harmful, unforced chaos that hurts our economy and undermines our national security.”
DeLauro’s Senate counterpart Patty Murray of Washington, who leads the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, told Burgess Everett of Politico she supported a CR too.
“We are working as hard as we can, but we have to be realistic,” Murray said. “We are not going to get this done in a week.”
California Rep. Pete Aguilar, an appropriator himself and the number-three House Democrat, echoed a similar sentiment during a press conference Wednesday morning.
“I think we’re going to need more time, but this is where we need Republicans to get on the same page,” he said to reporters. “We just don’t know what is going on here with between Republicans on Capitol Hill. It seems we should put them all in a room so they can work this out. But there’s just a variety of opinions on their side of the aisle as to where we go forward.”
As I reported on Wednesday’s edition of SUNRISE, the top two Senate Republicans—Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota—called on Congress to pass a CR earlier this week but Speaker Johnson has yet to do the same.
He did express optimism that Congress could meet the deadline but didn’t rule out another stopgap funding bill, despite saying in November he wouldn’t pass another CR.
The last CR Congress passed was unique in that it split the funding bills into two “laddered” expiration dates. The first, as I mentioned at the top is Jan. 19 for four less controversial measures; the second deadline is Feb. 2 for the remaining eight bills.
Schumer told reporters on Wednesday that he would make a decision today on the upcoming deadline, but he’s expected to come out in favor of a CR later today.
Happenings
Here’s what’s on tap in Congress and across national politics today:
ON CAPITOL HILL
10 a.m. The House will meet with first votes scheduled at 1:30 p.m. and last votes expected at 4:15 p.m. on several suspension bills and bills subject to a rule.
11:45 a.m. The Senate will vote to advance the nomination of Erika McEntarfer to be Commissioner of Labor Statistics. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) will hold his weekly press conference.
12 p.m. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) will hold a press conference on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his health transparency.
1:45 p.m. The Senate will vote to confirm McEntarfer if the nomination is advanced.
2 p.m. Reps. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse(D-R.I.) will hold a press conference on government funding.
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
10:15 a.m. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel from Washington to Charlotte, North Carolina, arriving at 11:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m. President Joe Biden will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
12 p.m. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will participate in a Biden campaign event at Good Aura Clothing Boutique in Beaufort, South Carolina.
12:45 p.m. The second gentleman will speak at a campaign event at Old Grace AME Church in Beaufort.
1 p.m. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, National Security Council John Kirby and National Economic Council Lael Brainard will hold a press briefing.
1:50 p.m. The vice president will participate in a roundtable discussion on gun violence prevention at a Charlotte-area middle school. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will also participate.
2:30 p.m. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will visit the University of Illinois Chicago to raise awareness on women’s health and menopause with actress and women’s health advocate Halle Berry. The event is part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. She will arrive in Chicago at 1:45 p.m.
4:15 p.m. Emhoff will speak at a campaign event at Chabad of Charleston—Center for Jewish Living in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
4:55 p.m. Vice President Harris will leave Charlotte to return to Washington, arriving at 6:05 p.m.
5:30 p.m. The second gentleman will speak at a campaign event at Lamar’s Sporting Club in Charleston, South Carolina.
7:45 p.m. Dr. Biden will attend a holiday gathering at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut with the USS Delaware’s crew and families. The event is part of her Joining Forces initiative. She will arrive in Groton at 7:30 p.m.
All times Eastern
Once Upon a Hill is home to thoughtful, accessible and singular coverage of congressional politics. Browse the OUAH archive for more posts and subscribe to the twice-weekly newsletter to get OUAH's in-depth and independent journalism sent straight to your inbox.