WASHINGTON \u2014 Efforts to pass a stopgap funding measure before Saturday night\u2019s deadline were sputtering in both chambers Friday, with lawmakers openly predicting a partial government shutdown was inevitable. The only question appeared to be how long the funding lapse would last.<\/p>\n
Border security talks in the Senate stalled Friday ahead of a key procedural vote Saturday, casting doubt on whether there would be the required 60 votes to end debate on a seven-week stopgap bill.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, House Republicans huddled to discuss remaining options after their last shot at a 31-day continuing resolution chock full of spending cuts and restrictive border policies fell flat on the floor earlier Friday.<\/p>\n
None of the options \u2014 taking up a Senate bill that hasn\u2019t even passed yet, or a \u201cclean\u201d CR extending current funding levels for a week or two, appeared to be gaining much steam, at least yet.<\/p>\n
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., one of the 21 GOP \u201cno\u201d votes earlier in the day on the conservative CR option, said Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., floated a 14-day option that won\u2019t get his vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have one duty: Let\u2019s pass a budget. All 50 states do a budget. We go down this road every time. They say \u2018Trust us, trust us, trust us. We\u2019ll do better next time.\u2019 We\u2019re not doing any better the next time,\u201d Burchett said. He allowed that any shutdown was likely to be \u201ca short one,\u201d however, and didn\u2019t seem to rule out a bipartisan bill to reopen the government going to the floor at some point.<\/p>\n
Aggressive appropriations schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, House Republican leaders at the closed-door conference meeting laid out an aggressive schedule for October consideration of seven of the chamber\u2019s remaining eight appropriations bills.<\/p>\n On its face, passing more full-year fiscal 2024 appropriations bills through the House won\u2019t help avert a partial government shutdown, considering the Senate hasn\u2019t passed any of its bills and the two chambers are far from any kind of framework deal.<\/p>\n But the idea is to show GOP lawmakers opposed to any stopgap funding measure that leaders are serious about the \u201cregular order\u201d process of passing individual bills, even if a little late.<\/p>\n To start with, McCarthy told members that the House would consider the Energy-Water and Legislative Branch appropriations bills next week. That\u2019s a slight shift from previous indications that the Interior-Environment bill along with Energy-Water would be on next week\u2019s docket. But the Legislative Branch bill might be an easier lift than Interior-Environment, which is facing another $3.9 billion in cuts to appease GOP holdouts \u2014 and might give members an opportunity to voice their opposition to a boost in member pay while the shutdown is in effect.<\/p>\n The following week, leadership plans to bring the Transportation-HUD and Interior measures to the floor. Financial Services would follow the week of Oct. 16.<\/p>\n The Commerce-Justice-Science bill would be considered the week of Oct. 23, with Labor-HHS-Education the week of Oct. 30, per McCarthy\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n Those are the two fiscal 2024 bills that haven\u2019t yet gone before the full Appropriations Committee, and could prove the most difficult to pass. Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Chairman Robert B. Aderholt is charged with cutting an additional $23 billion from his bill, on top of steep cuts that were already there, for a combined 30 percent reduction below this year.<\/p>\n Aderholt, R-Ala., said some programs would have to be \u201ceviscerated\u201d with cuts that deep.<\/p>\n Missing from the schedule is the Agriculture appropriations bill, which the House defeated in a 191-237 vote Thursday night. The \u201cno\u201d votes included 27 Republicans who opposed an abortion provision in the bill or felt that the cuts were too steep.<\/p>\n Agriculture Appropriations Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., said earlier Friday that he did not know what the path forward for his bill would be. \u201cI don\u2019t know, you\u2019ve got to ask the 27 Republicans who voted against it, not me,\u201d he said. \u201cI voted for it.\u201d<\/p>\n The House on Thursday did pass the Defense, Homeland Security and State-Foreign Operations bills, and the Military Construction-VA measure in late July.<\/p>\n And Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chairman of the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, called the schedule for October that GOP leaders laid out \u201caspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n Staying close<\/strong><\/p>\n The House will remain in session on Saturday and members are staying close, in case there\u2019s something to actually vote on. But it was clear that, despite leadership\u2019s push on full-year spending bills, there was no consensus on how to keep agencies operating in the short-term.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is the holdouts don\u2019t offer any other options,\u201d Rep. Daniel Crenshaw, R-Texas, said. \u201cThe holdouts say, \u2018Well, let\u2019s have a shutdown and we\u2019ll work through the appropriations process.\u2019 As if all of a sudden the messy democracy that makes the appropriations process difficult in the first place is somehow going to resolve itself.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, it wasn\u2019t clear their Senate counterparts would have any better luck when that chamber votes on cloture at 1 p.m. Eastern time Saturday. After spending the previous couple days trying to hammer out a deal to add up to $6 billion in border security measures and potentially some other policy restrictions, those talks appeared to crater on Friday.<\/p>\n The problem for many Republicans was that nothing on the table was tough enough, while for many Democrats, it was too much.<\/p>\n Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who already opposes $6 billion for Ukraine in the Senate bill, said the border and immigration amendment under discussion was unlikely to have much meaningful impact.<\/p>\n \u201cMy very strong suspicion here is that the immigration amendment, the net effect it has is very little improvement on border security,\u201d Vance said. \u201cAnd it puts Republicans in a very tough negotiating position. I don\u2019t think \u2014 I don\u2019t know why we\u2019re negotiating against ourselves here, instead of actually strengthening House Republicans\u2019 position.\u201d<\/p>\n Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson on Friday afternoon sought unanimous consent to take up a stopgap measure that would extend current funding for two weeks, through Oct. 14.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something we all ought to agree on,\u201d Johnson said on the floor. \u201cWe prevent a shutdown. We prevent pain to real people.\u201d<\/p>\n But Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., objected to his request, saying a two-week extension wouldn\u2019t provide enough time to complete fiscal 2024 appropriations.<\/p>\n She said Johnson\u2019s bill also wouldn\u2019t extend expiring authorizations for the Federal Aviation Administration, community health centers and other programs. \u201cWe need a CR that gives us the actual time to get through our bipartisan spending bills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n With no obvious way out of a shutdown at this point, some members are looking to mid-October as the next big inflection point: that\u2019s when the first paychecks for federal workers go out after the funding lapse.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very concerned about, you know, mid-October. We\u2019re gonna shut this thing down tomorrow night for how long? I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in there that I think would agree to maybe a 14-day CR, we got to get past the next payroll. And if we don\u2019t … the pressure building in this place is going to be pretty intense.\u201d<\/p>\n ______<\/p>\n (Roll Call’s David Lerman and Laura Weiss contributed to this report.) <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n