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With no swift resolution in sight, lawmakers are gearing up to work through the weekend. And a key question looms: will they be able to avoid the government shutdown as time passes midnight?
Most lawmakers believe both sides will agree to extend government funding for a few more days while relief talks continue. But this is Congress, where even the easy things can be hard to do.
Senate GOP leaders have openly spoken about the need to pass an interim bill – called a Continuing Resolution, or CR – to extend the shutdown deadline for a brief window of up to 48 hours, although Democratic leaders The have so far been unwilling to accept this call in an attempt to pressure Republicans to finalize a relief deal.
To pass a short-term funding bill a few hours before midnight, it would take bipartisan cooperation and the 100 senators agree to schedule a vote. For the moment, that cooperation is lacking, say leading Republicans.
Moreover, there are still many issues to be addressed before both sides can secure an economic bailout in the dying days of the 116th Congress and after months of bitter stalemate.
“It’s a bit of a mole kick, you know, hit it here and something else pops up,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota said. “There’s a lot of interaction between the moving parts of it all, and getting everything aligned at the same time is proving to be quite difficult.”
If government funding were to run out, it would start over the weekend and could be so brief that it would have virtually no impact on government operations.
But there would still be major risks involved – especially if they were unable to resolve their deadlock, causing a prolonged shutdown amid a once-in-a-century pandemic, a raging economic crisis and a deployment of high-stakes vaccines.
Moreover, even a brief hiatus would almost certainly ignite partisan tensions that could make efforts to complete negotiations on a stimulus package even more complicated.
The delay in finalizing a deal results from a series of issues that have yet to be resolved.
Leaders face pressure from both right and left to change the deal before it is unveiled.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said he plans to speak on Friday to demand a vote on his bill providing direct payments of $ 1,200 for individuals and $ 2,400 for families. Hawley said “all options are on the table” when asked on Thursday if he would oppose a continuing resolution.
In the talks, outstanding questions include whether there should be additional restrictions on who should be eligible for spot checks and if and for how long to extend the eviction moratorium, as some Republicans argue that rent assistance could. be sufficient. Democrats disagree.
Other issues to be addressed include a push by Republicans to restrict the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending power, which Democrats complain about hindering the new Biden administration.
Leaders also continued to negotiate how the Federal Emergency Management Agency for States and Cities money would be structured, sources say, which Democrats are pushing but Republicans are resisting.
For now, lawmakers are bracing for the possibility that a cutoff in government funding could trigger a midnight shutdown.
“There may be a partial disruption. Clearly we are here for the weekend,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, on Thursday. “It seems to me that the problems that remain unresolved can be fixed. But the question is how long does it take.”
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