Congress Has Just 11 Days To Fund The Government

Ken Tran, USA TODAY   Mon, September 11, 2023

Here’s How A Government Shutdown Could Impact The US

WASHINGTON — The country faces a potential government shutdown when the House returns from a weeks-long summer break on Tuesday.

The Senate has already returned from its recess, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has praised his colleagues from both sides of the aisle for working together on spending compromises without much heartburn. The lower chamber is a different story: Most of what is expected to be a fierce fight over government spending will take place in the House.

While government funding technically expires on Sept. 30, the House has just 11 working days to pass a short-term funding extension – called a continuing resolution – to buy lawmakers more time to hash out the details of a spending package.

A group of ultra-right lawmakers from the House Freedom Caucus have drawn hard lines even before the House comes back into session, openly threatening to leverage a shutdown if a continuing resolution does not include deep spending cuts or other demands, such as more security on the southern border.

Here’s what to know about the upcoming showdown and how it could affect you.

Hard-Right Lawmakers Threaten Shutdown For Deep Spending Cuts

The demands of House Freedom Caucus members have next to no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Schumer, warned lawmakers last week that negotiations should be held in good faith and with bipartisanship in mind.

“I implore, I beg my House Republican colleagues to follow the Senate’s lead, to recognize that time is short, and the only way to avoid a shutdown is through bipartisanship in both the House and Senate,” Schumer said at a weekly press conference.

While the House is gearing up for what could be a drawn-out fight, the Senate has already teed up three out of the 12 appropriation bills needed to fund the government for a vote this week.

But in the House, hard-right lawmakers, which includes conservatives not part of the Freedom Caucus, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., are making heavy asks of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. In exchange for the requests, they'll hypothetically help avert a shutdown.

Greene said at a town hall she would not vote to fund the government if the House does not hold a vote on an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, a prospect that some moderate Republicans have balked at.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., downplayed the effects of a shutdown in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week, saying “If a temporary shutdown is more concerning to you than our $2 trillion deficit and $33 trillion national debt,  I'd politely suggest you're part of the problem.”

May 30, 2023; Washington, DC, USA; Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), center, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), right, before the start of a House Freedom Caucus press conference outside of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 opposing the current debt ceiling agreement negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden.

May 30, 2023; Washington, DC, USA; Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), center, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), right, before the start of a House Freedom Caucus press conference outside of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 opposing the current debt ceiling agreement negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden

How A Government Shutdown Could Affect You

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