The Office of Management and Budget has advised federal agencies to begin planning for a possible government shutdown, Federal News Network reported. With the end of the fiscal year less than a week away, there is no sign of an agreement on Capitol Hill to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open and raise the debt limit.
“I think there is a real possibility [of a shutdown], and I think that it would be a disaster because it would cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars, plus all the people that would be put out of work,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, according to CQ. “It would be the most irresponsible thing in the world.”
The committee’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), said the best chance to keep the government open is to reach a last-minute deal.
“I think we ought to do something before Thursday,” Shelby said, referencing the last day of the fiscal year. “We probably won’t, but I’d hope we would. You know it comes down, sometimes to the last hour, last minute.”
The House passed a package with no Republican votes that would continue current spending into December and suspend the debt limit.
The U.S. is expected to reach its current debt limit next month, and Republicans in the Senate have repeatedly said Democrats will need to raise it without Republican votes. That’s a break from tradition, when the parties have worked together to avoid a government default.
DOD photo by Glenn Fawcett
