WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is meeting with the top four leaders of Congress at the White House on Tuesday as he races to send military aid to foreign allies and avoid a partial government shutdown over the weekend.
“It's Congress's responsibility to fund the government,” Biden said at the beginning of the meeting, adding, “A government shutdown would be very damaging to the economy. I think we all agree on that. We need a bipartisan solution.” We need a strategy.”
Mr. Biden last spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) more than a month ago, on January 17, but in the weeks since then, Mr. They have not been able to reach an agreement on military aid or a hammer. Details of the budget deal agreed last month to fund the government for the remainder of the financial year have been revealed. Johnson will be at Tuesday's meeting along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (R-N.Y.). attend.
As Mr. Johnson left the Capitol to head to the White House, a reporter asked him if there would be a government shutdown. “No,” said the speaker. “We're going to try to prevent that.”
If a funding path cannot be found, the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and other programs will all close at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday. . Funding for remaining government departments, including the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and Justice, will expire one week later at 12:01 a.m. on March 9.
Even if the partial shutdown begins this weekend, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed and pay will be suspended for those still required to report to work in affected departments. It would also jeopardize food assistance programs for women and children, end loans to U.S. farmers, and freeze hiring and training of air traffic controllers at a time when the country faces severe shortages. It will be. Under recently passed legislation, federal employees will receive back pay after the shutdown ends.
And at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the closure would mean the closure of Veterans Affairs regional offices and the GI Bill hotline, suspension of career counseling and transition assistance programs for veterans, and suspension of public service and assistance activities for veterans. maintenance of the grounds of the Veterans Cemetery will be frozen. VA said. However, medical care and benefits provided by the VA will not be affected, and burials in national cemeteries will continue, the department said.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonough was briefed Monday on the agency-wide closure plan. The White House Office of Management and Budget began its first round of outreach Friday to senior federal agency leaders about a potential government shutdown, OMB officials said.
Lawmakers are once again scrambling to prevent another disaster of their own making. Bipartisan negotiators were expected to release the first part of a spending bill this week to avoid a partial shutdown. However, by Monday evening, the invoice had still not been submitted or shared with co-workers for review.
Given the looming deadline, a stopgap funding bill called a continuing resolution (CR) may be needed to avoid a shutdown.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former Republican aide to Mr. McConnell, said, “It's unclear for some time, but I think we're moving towards CR, but that's all I can say.'' .
“I hope they do a short-term CR and then pass these bills,” said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who represents thousands of affected federal workers. .
Some of the delays so far have been due to policy riders to block the Biden administration's efforts on climate change, diversity and equity initiatives, student loans, gun policy, transgender care, and spending on abortion-related travel. It stems from demands from House conservatives that Johnson be included. But those riders would be quickly rejected by the Democratic-led Senate. Republican leader McConnell acknowledges this fact.
“Government shutdowns are harmful to the country and never have positive policy or political outcomes,” McConnell said in a floor speech Monday. “This week, we have the means and plenty of time to avoid a shutdown and get serious about our annual spending. But, as always, the challenges at hand require everyone to stay away from the poison pill. We need to row in the same direction towards clean spending.”
Returning to Washington on Monday, Schumer warned that Congress “has little time to act” and must “resist the centrifugal force of extremism emanating from the far right.”
“I hope that pragmatic Republicans will work with Democrats to avoid this week's government shutdown and commit to responsible governance,” he said in a speech on the floor. “Senate Democrats want to do the right thing and keep government open. I hope Congress continues to work together in good faith to make that happen. But time is short. Time is short. is short.”
The funding showdown is hampering other Congressional work. The House is unlikely to send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate until the government funding process is complete, three people familiar with the matter said.
A final decision has not been made on exactly when the articles will be sent, one of the people said, adding that a Senate trial will begin. But Johnson wants to get through the dual funding deadline before impeachment swamps the Senate.
