Shutdown Dominates Washington

It’s day three of the government shutdown with a Senate vote expected Friday afternoon. Under the Senate rules, which allows a filibuster on budget bills, Republican leaders need to get 60 votes to move forward. One of the casualties of the shutdown is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which was unable to release the jobs number for September today.

There are 53 Republicans in the Senate. However, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul opposes the House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) that keeps the government open until Nov. 21 at current spending levels. With Senator Paul voting no, Republicans need to pick up eight Democratic votes to get to 60, and on the last vote, only three Democrats voted to open the government and pass the House-approved CR. There are reportedly talks going on between moderate Democrats and Republicans to see if the Senate can find an exit strategy and reopen the government.

The goal is to have the Congress pass the 12 spending bills with the additional weeks before Nov. 21 and the next shutdown deadline. In fact, one of the least controversial spending bills that funds military construction, Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Agriculture is close to agreement and passage.

Congress hates meeting over the weekend. That’s why after the Senate votes, Senators will head home and return on Monday, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune promising another vote then.

One thing I learned from my days working on Capitol Hill is that the votes by Senators and Representatives can change when they are home with constituents and realize the real pain their actions are causing. Several news outlets have reported that critical workers such as TSA agents and flight controllers started to call in sick once they started losing their paychecks. 

The clock is ticking, and pressure will be mounting on Senate Democrats in swing states as the House position reflects the CR strategy that passed 13 times during the Biden presidency.

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