After an eventful first week in session, congressional lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill Monday with a goal to dodge a government shutdown. But with only 10 legislative days, both the House and Senate are divided over how to keep the government afloat, even on a short-term basis.
With a deadline of Sept. 30, Congress will likely consider a stopgap measure, or a temporary solution, to keep funding federal agencies. But even that could face hurdles in the Republicans’ razor-thin conference.
“The ball will be in Democrats’ corner,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. “We’ve been moving forward on appropriations, gathering steam to do that. We do not believe it’s in the nation’s interest to close the government down.”
House Democrats are hanging their hopes on party leaders in the Senate to block any government spending bill crafted solely by Republicans. They argue that with the changing political climate in the past six months, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has almost no choice but to oppose a GOP spending bill negotiated without Democratic input.
But Schumer encouraged bipartisanship while trying to reassure Democratic skeptics that he’s on their side.
“The only way to avoid a shutdown is to work in a bipartisan way,” he said Wednesday. “You need Democrats and Republicans with a bill that gets both support, both parties’ support in the Senate.”
Unlike in the House, where Republicans can pass legislation with a simple majority, Senate rules dictate that they need 60 votes – a supermajority – to pass any legislation. That means gathering some Democratic support.
“Republicans need to stop trying this go at it alone approach,” Schumer said. “They did that with the big beautiful bill. Look how that’s working out for them.”
