The House is expected to be working the weekend in order to bring a vote early next week on the continuing resolution, the funding package that is Congress' best bet on keeping the government open after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's six month funding package failed on Wednesday, with 14 Republicans moving across the aisle to vote with Democrats against the measure that was paired with the Securing America's Federal Elections (SAFE) Act, a voting rights bill that many believed to be a political ploy and a nonstarter.
While the House nails down the specificsof the new bill, which is expected to run for three months instead of the six that Republicans wanted, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. is preparing his own bill in case those efforts on behalf of the speaker fail early next week. He has already filed a motion in preparation.
"Instead of doing the bipartisan work everyone knows is required for avoiding a shutdown, the House Republican Leadership has wasted two weeks — two weeks — listening to Donald Trump's ridiculous claims on the campaign trail," Schumer said. "Now that their efforts have failed, House Republicans don't seem to have any plan for actually keeping the government open," he added. "By filing today, I am giving the Senate maximum flexibility for preventing a shutdown."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said they received some draft language for the bill but that talks remain "at the very initial stages."
A government shutdown could mean disruptions in federal infrastructure projects, freeze any rulemaking efforts and the distribution of federal subsidies to direct-pay debt and cause a great deal of uncertainty for issuers. Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy for Wells Fargo
The shutdown deadline remains Sept. 30, a Monday, which is causing many lawmakers to view Friday Sept. 27 as the real deadline to complete a vote.
Johnson, long thought to be doing the bidding for former President Trump who pushed for the funding measure to be paired with the voting rights bill, said Friday that the former President "understands the situation we're in," and that they'll "release the bill text as soon as we get all the final decisions made but we haven't made those decisions yet."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. said on Thursday that he hasn't spoken with Johnson since the vote Wednesday but that his staff has been in contact with his staff. He also offered a view as to how House Democrats are viewing the upcoming vote.
"We need traditional Republicans to break with MAGA extremists and partner with us so we can keep the government open and meet the needs of the American people," he said Thusday. "What's the challenge?"
