Here's the latest on the potential government shutdown:
- The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Sunday if Congress doesn't act, a possibility that looks increasingly likely.
- Congress was in session today but has shown little public progress on breaking the logjam. Conservatives in the House have pushed for deep spending cuts that can't pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. And they're threatening Speaker Kevin McCarthy's job.
- Meanwhile, the Senate released a plan to keep the government funded through Nov. 17, along with some aid for Ukraine and FEMA funding. But it's unclear whether House Republicans will accept it.
- President Joe Biden said today he doesn't believe a shutdown is inevitable, calling on House Republicans to "do their job, fund the government."
- McCarthy suggested yesterday that a meeting with Biden would be "very important," but the White House has rejected that after the speaker blew up a previous spending agreement, saying the crisis is up to Republicans to fix.
- If the government does shut down, millions of federal workers and military personnel will lose their paychecks. Some essential workers, like TSA employees, will have to work without pay. But Social Security checks will continue to go out. Here's everything you need to know about how it might affect you.
Hakeem Jeffries says House Democrats ready to support Senate CR
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said House Democrats would provide "the lion's share of votes" to support the Senate's continuing resolution, or CR, if it comes up for a vote.
"We are calling for an up-or-down vote when the Senate sends over a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government and meet the needs of the American people," Jeffries, D-N.Y., told MSNBC's Joy Reid in an interview tonight.
"And if that happens, we will provide a substantial number of votes — the lion’s share of votes — and all we will need is a handful of so-called traditional Republicans to join with us in the best interest of the American people and avoid an extreme MAGA Republican shutdown that will that will hurt everyone."
The Senate has not yet voted on the CR, and McCarthy has criticized the Senate's bipartisan measure.
The Senate is done for the day — after passing a dress code resolution
The Senate has recessed for the day.
It will have a procedural vote tomorrow to move forward with the temporary government funding bill, which would postpone a shutdown until November.
The Senate is moving slowly, as it requires the support of all 100 senators to pass bills quickly, and Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have said they'll object to speedy consideration of the short-term funding bill. Paul opposes the Ukraine aid, while Scott has expressed outrage that the Senate is pursuing a temporary bandage and not including more disaster recovery money.
Before it left for the day, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution establishing a dress code for men on the Senate floor.
“This is not the biggest thing going on in Washington today. It’s not even one of the biggest things going on in Washington today. But nonetheless, it’s a good thing,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said on the floor.
McCarthy discusses apparent split between House and Senate GOP
Asked why he and McConnell do not seem to be on the same page with government funding, McCarthy said: "Mitch is not the majority over there. He’s got to work with Sen. Schumer."
He blasted Schumer for not including border security in the Senate's CR. Asked how much money or what policy would be enough for him on border security, McCarthy said he did not think that money "solves the problem," arguing that Biden's policies have "made the border wide open."
But McCarthy still faces criticism from his own party. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said she has had a "lot of frustrations" with the speaker.
"I am from South Carolina, and when you look a man in the eye and you shake his hand and you make a promise and you keep your end of the bargain and the other person doesn’t, you know, it’s not a good place to be in," Mace said of McCarthy.
House Republicans will meet tomorrow morning
The House Republican Conference has a meeting at 9 ET tomorrow morning at the Capitol Hill Club.
An off-campus morning meeting tends to mean they're discussing a political issue, because members are prohibited from using federal resources like House conference rooms for campaigns.
Jimmy Carter's 99th birthday celebrations may feel the impacts of a shutdown
Jimmy Carter’s 99th birthday is Sunday, which happens to be the day the government would shut down. Some celebrations planned to honor the longest-living U.S. president are being adjusted in anticipation of a potential shutdown.
Several properties associated with Carter’s life are part of the National Park Service, including his boyhood home and farm, his school and other family sites in Plains, Georgia. National parks have been closed during past shutdowns.
The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, part of the National Archives, shifted its activities by a day from Sunday to Saturday to be sure festivities would not be lost to a funding crisis.
Also Saturday, Jimmy Carter Historical Park will display a birthday banner with signatures from locals and visitors, and there will be cupcakes.
If a shutdown is avoided, activities at the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum will continue Sunday, including 99-cent admission in honor of the milestone.
A shutdown could halt D.C. weddings: Views from the Marriage Bureau
Couples looking to get married in Washington could be in for a wait for their nuptials if the government shuts down.
Because the nation’s capital is not a state, local courts in Washington are affected, and in past shutdowns, that has included marriages. Last time, the D.C. Council passed special legislation — the Let Our Vows Endure, or LOVE, Act of 2019 — to allow marriages to continue. But there’s no guarantee it will do so again.
As part of one of those couples planning a wedding for early October, I went with my fiancé to the Marriage Bureau on Wednesday afternoon to get a wedding license. About a dozen people were waiting in line, some murmuring about getting their licenses just in case Congress doesn’t get its act together.
Telaya Charles, who works at the Marriage Bureau, said that it was busier than a normal Wednesday and that couples had been coming in talking about the shutdown. Because the government is still open, a lot of agencies and city employees haven’t gotten much information about what will happen. But Marriage Bureau employees have heard tidbits from Hill staffers and reporters like me coming in to get marriage licenses just under the wire.
Despite worries about her own job and how long she could last if the shutdown goes beyond a few weeks, Charles was joking with couples, spreading some cheer in an uncertain time.
Natalie Kress and Tess Bartholomew got engaged in October and stopped by the Marriage Bureau on Wednesday, in part because of shutdown rumors. “I feel like it’s hard to miss when you live in the D.C. area,” Kress said, noting they both have friends who work in government who are “stressed.”
They’d always planned to go this week, Kress said. “But then, once we heard it was ramping up, we were like, all right, let’s just go today.” Bartholomew said: “The shutdown obviously expedited that for us. And they don’t expire, so there’s not really any point in us not getting when we know we can.”
Washington couples can get marriage licenses this week, but the city won’t process them after a ceremony if the government is shut down. That means that although our wedding is coming up, we may not be legally married for a while.
My fiancé asked Kress and Bartholomew how they felt about their marriage’s not being legally recognized if they get married during a shutdown.
“Oh, I’m living it up! I’m living it up,” Bartholomew joked.
CEA Chair Jared Bernstein warns a shutdown would hurt economic growth
Jared Bernstein, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said a variety of experts, including the CEA, have estimated that a government shutdown would reduce quarterly annualized economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.
"Programmatic impacts from a shutdown would also cause unnecessary economic stress and losses that don’t always show up in GDP — from delaying Small Business Administration loans to eliminating Head Start slots for thousands of children with working parents to jeopardizing nutrition assistance for nearly 7 million mothers and children," Bernstein said in a statement.
Graham vows to push for border security funding after CR is passed
While Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he won't oppose the continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Nov. 17, he has signaled that he'll push for border security funding to be in the next package.
“There will be an effort to keep the government open probably till November,” Graham said, referring to the Senate’s CR. “In November we’ll have a chance to do things more thorough, but I promise you this: There’s not going to be a solution to keeping the government open and fully funded until there’s a solution to our border crisis.”
In November, "we’re going to need some funding and some policy changes for the border, and that will give us about six weeks to work out a package," he told NBC News.
Senate Republicans push for amendments to get House on board with their CR
Senate Republicans are pushing to hold votes on a group of amendments to the bipartisan stopgap bill that would fund the government until Nov. 17. It's an attempt to make the bill, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, more amenable to House Republicans, who have already threatened to reject it.
“We’re trying to figure out kind of an amendment strategy, and if we could get some good strong border policy attached to this at some point, I think it makes it not only easier here in the Senate, but also in the House,” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of Republican leadership, told reporters.
The amendment votes would also try to shake free a time agreement so the Senate can finish the CR in time for the House to consider it before the funding deadline at the end of the day Saturday. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have said they would object to speedy consideration of the bill in protest of various provisions in it.
“If they use all the procedural tools that are available to them, you know this could extend into the weekend for sure,” Thune said.
