Here’s Congress’ schedule so far as officials try to avert shutdown
Congress has just hours to pass a budget before the government shuts down. Here’s the schedule so far today, according to NBC, though plans could change:
9:30 a.m. ET: House Republicans met in the Capitol for a conference meeting. This follows another conference meeting Friday evening where Speaker Kevin McCarthy proposed a 45-day budget that would fund disaster relief but neither border security nor Ukraine support. That resolution did not pass and will likely continue to change.
10 a.m. ET: The House opened the floor and started its Saturday session.
According to NBC, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said the House should have started earlier this morning: “We should have been at this seven o’clock in the morning talking about it.”
11:45 a.m. ET: The House will vote on a CR that would provide a budget until mid-November, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced.
12 p.m. ET: The Senate is due to resume its session.
Around 1 p.m. ET (though this timing could change): The Senate will hold its third procedural vote on a bipartisan continuing resolution, or CR, that would keep the government funded in the short-term. That CR needs 60 votes to move forward. The first two procedural votes took place on Sept. 26, when it received 77 votes in favor, and Sept. 28, when it received 76 votes in favor.
If the procedural vote passes, debate will begin for up to 30 hours.
11:59 p.m. ET: This is the deadline for the government to pass a budget deal before shutdown takes effect.
— Rebecca Picciotto
Pence confident Republicans ‘will find a way’ as shutdown looms
Former Vice President Mike Pence hailed House Republicans for standing “firm” ahead of a pending government shutdown.
“I think it’s important that House Republicans stand firm and get another down payment on restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington, D.C.,” Pence told CNBC’s Eamon Javers on “Last Call.”
Pence said that he was confident that Republicans “will find a way even if there is a short-term shutdown to fund the government.”
Pence added that as president, his administration “will take on the long-term mandatory spending programs and bring some common sense reforms that will put us back on a path of fiscal solvency and a balanced budget in the years ahead.”
— Amanda Macias
House’s morning meeting yields little movement, CR vote to come
Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that the House will vote on a continuing resolution, or CR, today at 11:45 a.m. ET, according to NBC.
However, House Republicans left their morning conference meeting with little reassurance that the government would avoid a shutdown tonight, NBC reports.
The caucus held a private conference meeting at 9:30 a.m. before the House floor opened today.
Republican Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota said, according to an NBC source, that the caucus does not have the votes it needs to pass a Republican-drafted CR, which would provide a short-term government budget to avert a shutdown.
The meeting comes after a group of conservative GOP House members on Friday sunk a Republican-drafted bill that would have included the spending cuts and border security funding that House Republicans are looking for.
“We presented the most conservative short-term funding option with border security available,” said New York Republican Rep. Marcus Molinaro, referencing the bill that did not pass on Friday. “It is necessary for us to take the next best option, which is not to abandon the people who expect services from us.”
Staunch GOP House members like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they will not vote for the CR as it stands, despite the looming shutdown deadline.
— Rebecca Picciotto
2 million servicemembers and more than 1.5 million federal civilian employees will go without a paycheck during shutdown
The Biden administration estimates that an estimated 2 million U.S. servicemembers and more than 1.5 million federal civilian employees will go without a paycheck during a government shutdown.
The Office of Management and Budget also estimates that approximately 820,000 federal employees may be furloughed for as long as the shutdown lasts.
— Amanda Macias
Government shutdown is ‘unacceptable,’ Biden says
President Joe Biden called the looming government shutdown “unacceptable” on Saturday morning.
“There are those in Congress right now who are sowing so much division, they’re willing to shut down the government tonight. It’s unacceptable,” Biden wrote on X.
— Amanda Macias
‘Total failure by everybody in government,’ GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie says of shutdown
Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed lawmakers for the pending U.S. government shutdown.
“Total failure by everybody in government,” Christie told NBC’s Emma Barnett following a town hall in Keene, New Hampshire, on Friday. Christie said both Democrats and Republicans are “guilty” of creating the looming government crisis.
When asked how he would handle the situation if he were president Christie slammed Biden by saying, “I would not be sitting around like Joe Biden acting like it’s not my problem.”
“They’d be in the White House and we’d work on it until they fixed it,” Christie said of congressional leaders.
— Amanda Macias
Tens of thousands of civilian defense workers will go without a paycheck during the shutdown
The largest government agency will have to furlough tens of thousands of civilian defense workers if there’s a lapse in federal funding.
The Pentagon, which oversees a workforce of approximately 950,000 civilians and more than 1.3 million active-duty servicemembers, will begin to shut down non-essential military services on Monday if a budget resolution is not passed by Congress on Saturday.
Depending on the military installation, servicemembers and their families may experience canceled elective medical procedures at military hospitals, a halt in temporary duty movements and other shuddered services due to the shutdown.
Civilians and servicemembers will not be paid for as long as the shutdown persists, however, Department of Defense employees will receive back pay following a budget deal.
— Amanda Macias
National parks, Smithsonian museums to close in government shutdown
If the government is shut down tomorrow, you may have to postpone that Sunday hike.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that national parks will be closed “in the event of a lapse in annual government appropriations.”
“This means that the majority of national parks will be closed completely to public access. Areas that, by their nature, are physically accessible to the public will face significantly reduced visitor services,” the Department said.
The Smithsonian Institution has also released its contingency plan, saying services that protect “life or property” such as taking care of the national collections and National Zoo animals will continue. However, Smithsonian museums will close to the public.
The National Parks Service, or NPS, will also maintain operations to keep property and life in the park protected. And visitors will still have physical access to areas like the National Mall where “it is impossible or impractical” to keep people out. But visitor services that require NPS resources like restroom maintenance, sanitation, road upkeep, campground and emergency operations “will vary and are not guaranteed.”
Employees of NPS and the Smithsonian will be furloughed, except those whose jobs are exempt from the pause.
As the midnight government shutdown deadline looms, government officials are scrambling to negotiate a resolution that will pass among House Republicans who want big spending cuts and congressional Democrats. The government will officially shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday if they fail to find a middle ground and make a deal.
— Rebecca Picciotto
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