Time For Another Government Shutdown Scare, Because Republicans

Yeah, we DID do this back in January. And November too. Oh, and in September.

The US is looking at another partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t pass either a budget bill or a short-term spending package by 11:59 Friday night, and even a short-term bill might get hung up by Republican parliamentary tricks in the Senate. This is the fourth potential government shutdown during the current fiscal year, which began October 1; the last short-term spending bill was passed in January.

Senators working on the budget say a short-term funding bill, called a “continuing resolution” (or CR) will likely be needed thanks to policy demands by Republicans that have slowed negotiations in writing an actual budget to fund the government through September 30. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), a member of the Appropriations Committee, told NBC News, “We’ve just had obstacles every step of the way,” and that a CR is “part of the discussion” to avoid a shutdown.

Just to make things interesting, Sen. Rand Paul did that thing where he reminds everybody 1) that he exists, and 2) why everyone hates him, by vowing he would

"apply duress" to leaders by blocking speedy votes unless he gets changes to the bill or at least votes on amendments to slash spending.

“I’ll do the same thing I always do, which is introduce spending amendments and at least put the Senate on record as to whether they’re for cutting spending,” Paul said.

That move could conceivably delay even a continuing resolution, so that would be fun, considering that, as NBC News points out, House Republican leaders

have promised to wait 72 hours before a vote takes place to let members read it, leaving little time. The Senate will then need unanimous consent to pass it speedily — no sure thing.

Then again, maybe those delaying tactics would only apply to an actual budget bill, not a CR, who knows what those wacky Republicans are thinking?

If nothing is passed, that would mean a shutdown of the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. Under the stupid split-funding plan the GOP insisted on in November, there’s also a separate March 8 shutdown deadline for the remaining 80 percent of the government, including Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, Justice, and State.

After a meeting at the White House between President Biden and the top four congressional leaders, House Speaker Mike Johnson said everything looked just great, that negotiators were “working in good faith” and “quite literally around the clock” to reach agreements and avoid a government shutdown.

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THIS ONE. THIS MEETING.

Mitch McConnell Peacing Out, Has One More (UKRAINE) Thing (UKRAINE) On To-Do List (UKRAINE)

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The biggest obstruction to getting anything accomplished, yet again, is the far-right wing of the House Republican caucus, which the New York Times reported Tuesday wants to fill up the budget bills with shit nobody else wants, like a ban on the abortion drug mifepristone being sent through the mail and prohibiting Veterans Affairs from flagging veterans as mentally incompetent in data sent for firearms background checks, presumably because you can be incapable of managing your own affairs but still able to shoot at someone who knocks on your door and might be a tyrant. Or heck, you may just need to shoot up Maine.

House Goopers also want to block any increase in food aid for low-income mothers and babies, because you have to save money somewhere and it may as well be useless eaters. That story does at least note that Johnson

told Republicans on Friday during a conference call that they should not expect the inclusion of many of their major policy priorities, though he said he expected to secure a number of more minor victories.

So that ought to smooth everything over and persuade the Chaos Caucus to vote to prevent a government shutdown. Or, more likely, Democrats will once more provide the votes necessary for a CR, and the crazies will oust Johnson for being a traitor, you just never know.

Say, maybe it’s time to kick-start those impeachment hearings again. It’s not like the House has anything else on its plate.

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SOME OTHER TIMES WE DID THIS RECENTLY.

Spending Groundhog Sees Shadow, So Six More Weeks Of Government Being Open!

Democrats Yet Again Save America From Government Shutdown, Maybe Should Be Running The House?

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[NBC News / NYT]

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