Lawmakers broke for their August recess this week with many worried about whether they can avoid a partial government shutdown upon their return.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks at a news conference as the House prepares to leave for its August recess, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 27, 2023. – Lawmakers broke for their August recess this week with work on funding the government largely incomplete, fueling worries about whether Congress will be able to avoid a partial government shutdown this fall.
The Senate is adhering mostly to the top-line spending levels that President Joe Biden negotiated with House Republicans in late May as part of the debt-ceiling deal that extended the government's borrowing authority and avoided an economically devastating default. At a press conference at the Capitol this past week, some members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction within the House GOP, said that voters elected a Republican majority in that chamber to rein in government spending and it was time for House Republicans to use every tool available to get the spending cuts they want.
But the slim five-seat majority Republicans hold amplifies the power that a small group can wield. Even though the debt ceiling agreement passed with a significant majority of both Republicans and Democrats, conservatives opponents were so unhappy in the aftermath that they shut down House votes for a few days, stalling the entire GOP agenda.
Even as House Republicans have been moving their spending bills out of committee on party-line votes, the key committee in the Senate has been operating in a bipartisan fashion, drafting spending bills with sometimes unanimous support. In all, there are 12 spending bills. The House has passed one so far, and moved others out of committee. The Senate has passed none, though it has advanced all 12 out of committee, something that hasn't happened since 2018.
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Members of Congress break for August with no clear path to avoiding a shutdown this fallLawmakers broke for their August recess this week with work on funding the government largely incomplete, fueling worries about whether Congress will be able to avoid a partial government shutdown this fall.
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Members of Congress break for August with no clear path to avoiding a shutdown this fallCongress has until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, to act on government funding.
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Members of Congress break for August with no clear path to avoiding a shutdown this fallLawmakers broke for their August recess this week with many worried about whether they can avoid a partial government shutdown upon their return. Congress will have until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, to pass the spending bills needed to fund government agencies next year or a stopgap measure that keeps agencies running temporarily. It won’t be easy. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware is worried about the road ahead, saying “we’re going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he’s confident “we can get this all done” by the end of September.
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Members of Congress break for August with no clear path to avoiding a shutdown this fallCongress has until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, to act on government funding.
Read more »
Congress breaks for August recess with no clear path to avoiding a shutdown this fall'We're going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done,' said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
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