What I’m watching: The shutdown countdown
Congress has until the weekend to fund 70 percent of the federal government. It will have to hustle to meet yet another tight deadline.
First Things First
Welcome to yet another shutdown week. Congress has until Saturday at midnight to pass a half-dozen bills representing over 70 percent of the federal budget and keep the government open.
For context on how wild it is that we’re six months into the fiscal year and facing the prospect of a funding lapse for several vital departments and agencies, consider this: The House will begin hearings on the $7 trillion budget request President Joe Biden submitted to Congress last week for the upcoming fiscal year.
The legislative text for the measures—which cover programs for defense, health, education, labor, and more and will be packaged into a single “minibus” bill—has yet to be released. As of this weekend, negotiators had eluded solutions to outstanding snags, including funding for the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees and the Homeland Security Department.
The absence of bill text is notable for a couple of reasons.
First, House rules require a 72-hour window between a bill's release and a final floor vote. Since the lower chamber will take up the minibus first, each day without text pushes the timing for a final vote back.
Second, the Senate will need unanimous consent to move the bill through its chamber, an outcome only possible with an agreement brokered by party leaders that provides rank-and-file senators with a number of amendment votes in exchange for their approval to skip several time-consuming procedural votes.
When the bill hits the House floor, it will need several dozen Democratic votes to pass. Republicans have relied on the minority party to keep the government open since late last September with four short-term extensions and the first set of six bills Congress passed two weeks ago.
Despite the looming deadline, House Republicans have scheduled several energy-related bills for consideration this week in an effort to distract attention from their inability to perform their fundamental governing duties and attack President Joe Biden’s clean-energy agenda.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Once Upon a Hill. I’m Michael Jones. Thanks for spending part of your morning with me. It’s Monday, March 18. I love hearing from readers. Send me a direct message below or email me with tips, questions or to say hi.
ICYMI: I joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Politically Georgia” weekday radio show last Friday to discuss the bill the House passed that would remove TikTok from US app stores if its Chinese-based owner refuses to fully divest of the app within 180 days. (Read the deep dive I wrote after the House vote for the full context.) Listen to my segment—starting at 26:22—on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Also! I’ll be joining esteemed astrologer Wade Caves at the end of the month for a virtual exploration of the US legislative scene. Caves will contribute his astrological story to the discussion. The event is part of the World Astrology Summit, and I’ll be in great company, so I hope you buy a ticket. (When you register for the event, you’ll be asked how you heard about it. Put my name in the field if you’d be so kind.)
Happenings
Here’s what else I’m watching today on Capitol Hill and beyond:
The House and Senate are out.
11:30 a.m. President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at a Women’s History Month reception at the White House. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend.
3:15 p.m. The president will receive his daily intelligence briefing with the vice president.
Vice President Harris will also record two political radio interviews.
Biden’s week ahead:
Tuesday: The president will travel to Reno, Nev. to participate in a campaign event before traveling to Las Vegas to speak about lowering costs for American families. Then, he’ll travel to Phoenix to participate in a campaign event.
Wednesday: President Biden will speak about his economic agenda before traveling from Phoenix to Dallas to participate in two campaign fundraisers.
Thursday: The president will arrive in Houston from Dallas and participate in a campaign fundraiser before returning to Washington.
Friday: The president will travel to Wilmington, Del.
Harris’s week ahead:
Wednesday: The vice president will participate in a moderated conversation at the League of Conservation Voters’ annual dinner.
Friday: Vice President Harris will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to highlight how the administration has invested in the island’s recovery and renewal before traveling to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Saturday: The vice president will travel to Parkland, Fla. to speak about gun violence prevention and visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and meet with families who lost loved ones during the 2018 mass shooting. Harris will then return to Washington.
Read All About It
“There’s a ceasefire deal on the table. Hamas is the one rejecting it” by Fred Kaplan: Amid all the calls for an Israeli ceasefire in the war with Hamas; a few key details are getting short shrift—including the fact that Israel has put forward a plan with terms that are quite favorable to the terrorist group.
“The case against YIMBYism” by Michael Friedrich: “Why encouraging more private development won’t solve the housing crisis.”
“The failure of DOJ’s special counsel system” by Elie Honig: “The recent record is dismal. Just handle these high-profile cases like any other.”
“The rough years that turned Gen Z into America’s most disillusioned voters” by Andrew Restuccia and Eliza Collins: “Young adults are more skeptical of government and pessimistic about the future than any living generation before them.”
“End the phone-based childhood now” by Jonathan Haidt: “The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development.”
“Making sense of the gulf between young men and women” by The Economist: “It’s complicated. But better schooling for boys might help.”
“Here’s what Donald Trump’s America was actually like four years ago” by Brian Stelter: “The former president’s allies want voters to recall their lives four years back, but March 2020 was a harrowing period most people would rather forget. In this 2024 election cycle, it’s crucial to remember.”
“The Christian right’s imaginary nation” by Sarah Jones: “It prioritizes fictionalized harms over real people who suffer.”
“Welcome to me mountain” by Dahlia Lithwick: “I used to think most readers had an annoying habit when it came to reading the news. I had no idea what was coming.”
“The Stormy Daniels story is darker this time” by Molly Olmstead: “A new documentary shows just how much she—and the country—have changed since 2018.”
“The chaos inside Diddy’s charter school” by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz: “Parents were drawn in by celebrity connections. Instead, their children faced violence and dysfunction.”
“Angel Reese knows that people want a show” by Louisa Thomas: “The LSU star has had a weird season, but her charisma—and her rivalries with the University of South Carolina and with Iowa's Caitlin Clark—is a gift to women's basketball.”
“Americans will do anything to avoid gray hair” by Dominique Mosbergen: “Forger hair dye, people are going to great lengths to reduce or reverse the silvers. Some scientists of aging think they might be into something.”
“The friends who got away” by Frank Bruni: “We don’t mean to lose all the people who vanish from our lives.”
“There’s an art to arranging a bookshelf. Here’s how it’s done.” by Tim McKeough: “Jeremiah Brent, the newest cast member of Netflix’s Queer Eye, shows how he styles the shelves in the home he shares with his husband, Nate Berkus.
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