American Action News
The Biden Administration sent a message to federal agencies on Thursday to prepare for a potential government shutdown in the coming weeks.
The news comes as Democrats and Republicans in congress are set to go to war over the White House’s proposed budget.
As Fox Business reports:
The Senate is expected to vote as soon as Monday on a House-passed bill that will keep the government funded through early December and raise the $28 trillion debt ceiling. But the bill is almost certainly doomed in the upper chamber, where all but four Republican senators have promised to vote against it. Democrats would need to secure the support of at least 10 GOP lawmakers to overcome a filibuster.
It’s unclear what comes next: Without a short-term spending bill, the government is set to shut down next week. At the same time, the federal government will run out of cash to pay is bills sometime in November unless the debt ceiling is raised or suspended, according to multiple warnings from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Democrats have said a shutdown on their watch is not an option and have pledged to do whatever it takes to keep the government open. That could force the party to delink the debt ceiling from the short-term spending bill.
Republicans have argued for months that with a monopoly control on power in Washington, Democrats need to go it alone and raise the debt ceiling as part of their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which is not subject to Senate filibuster rules.
Others, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have warned that any such shutdown could have catastrophic consequences for the economy.