The House and Senate show no signs of coming to a deal on a funding measure. But the showdown to come, over the debt ceiling, could be even worse.
Barring any late surprises—and with Congress, that’s something you can never count out—it looks like we could be heading for a government shutdown. But in terms of damage to the country, that’s not even the biggest concern.
With four days before the deadline to pass a measure that keeps the light on, there’s little sign that lawmakers are likely to find a way out of the deadlock. Early Friday afternoon, the Senate is expected to approve, in a series of votes, a stopgap spending bill, sending it over to the House. But the Senate bill restores funding for Obamacare, which had been stripped out of a House version passed earlier this week.
In order to avoid alienating his party’s right wing, Speaker John Boehner has signaled that he’ll put forth a list of conservative demands as the price for keeping the government open. But Boehner hasn’t said what those demands might be. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he’ll only accept a “clean” bill, and the White House has made clear that it won’t support a bill that defunds or delays the president’s signature legislative achievement.
Without a deal, a government shutdown affecting a variety of federal services from national parks to soldiers’ paychecks, could come Tuesday. The budget year ends September 30.
But on Thursday, Boehner signaled ta possible shift in tactics. Republican leaders called on Obama to negotiate a lifting of the U.S. debt limit, which is set to be breached later this month. GOP demands included a one-year delay of Obamacare, and conservative shifts on economic and regulatory policy. As New York magazine’s Jon Chait noted, they amount to enacting the agenda of the man who Obama defeated in last fall’s election, Mitt Romney.
Obama has vowed not to negotiate over the debt limit, citing the dangerous precedent it would establish.
A government shutdown would hurt the economy and harm hundreds of thousands of federal workers. But a debt default would be far worse, preventing the U.S. from re-paying its creditors, risking the country’s credit rating, and potentially making it far harder for the U.S. to borrow money in the future.
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell contributed to this report.