Federal agencies are making final preparations with the government on the brink of a shutdown and congressional lawmakers racing against Saturday’s critical midnight deadline.
But the likelihood of averting a shutdown appears slim after GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday again failed to find agreement within his own party to extend government funding, leaving Congress at an impasse.
Infighting among House Republicans has played a central role in bringing Congress to a standoff over spending – and it is not yet clear how the issue will be resolved, raising concerns on Capitol Hill that a shutdown, if triggered, may not be easy to end.
A shutdown is expected to have consequential impacts across the country, from air travel to clean drinking water, and many government operations would grind to a halt – though services deemed essential for public safety would continue.
House Republicans have so far thrown cold water on a bipartisan Senate proposal to keep the government funded through November 17, but they have failed to coalesce around a plan of their own to avert a shutdown amid resistance from a bloc of hardline conservatives to any kind of short-term funding extension.
McCarthy suffered another high-profile defeat on Friday when the House failed to advance a last-ditch stopgap bill.
House GOP leadership has told members that further votes are now expected on Saturday, but it is not yet clear what the chamber would vote on.
In the aftermath of Friday’s failed vote, McCarthy told reporters he had proposed putting up a “clean” stopgap bill, and said he was “working through maybe to be able to do that.”
“We’re continuing to work through – trying to find the way out of this,” McCarthy said.
The Senate’s bipartisan bill would provide additional funds for Ukraine…
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