If Congress doesn't do something—and fast—the government is going to shut down in four days.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks to the press after a House Republican meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington September 26, 2013. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)
If Congress doesn’t do something—and fast—the government is going to shut down in four days.
And there’s little sign a breakthrough is coming.
The Senate is expected to pass a stop-gap measure Friday afternoon, which would keep the government open temporarily. But that proposal is a non-starter in the House, since it doesn’t defund Obamacare. President Obama has promised to veto any bill that cuts funds to his signature legislative achievement.
That’s left the pressure on House Speaker John Boehner. He lunged at a new strategy Thursday, hoping to get his conference to come along on a short-term spending deal by offering them a conservative wish-list of items in the upcoming fight over the debt ceiling. Republican demands included a one-year delay of Obamacare, and conservative shifts on economic and regulatory policy, as the price of raising the nation’s borrowing capacity. 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.
But it’s not even clear that the debt ceiling strategy will attract enough GOP support in the House. Already some Tea Partiers have said it doesn’t go far enough. That leaves the shutdown a looming threat.
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.
A 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.
Friday’s Senate vote on the stopgap funding measure will likely come in four separate pieces. First, starting at 12:30pm, will be a cloture vote to end debate on the bill. Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will hold a procedural vote aimed at streamlining the rest of the process, so that the bill can be passed in one day. Next comes a vote to replace the funding for Obamacare that the House took out. Last, there will be a vote on the final bill.
The first two of those four votes require support from 60 senators to pass, while the latter two require only 51. But, despite Sen. Ted Cruz’s theatrics earlier this week, all four are expected to pass, sending the showdown back to the House.
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell contributed to this report.