After Thursday Congress will shut down if a new funding bill is not passed. Three weeks ago the government closed for three days as a result of the fight for the survival of the Obama immigration program known as DACA.
However, the Republican leadership is confident that the same thing won’t happen as Democrats won’t risk another shutdown since the last one did not turn out in their favor.
“I don’t think we’ll see a threat of a government shutdown again over this subject. One of my favorite old Kentucky country sayings is ‘there’s no education in the second kick of a mule,’ and so I think there will be a new level of seriousness here trying to resolve these issues,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
The Republican retreat ended Monday and Democrat are going to begin theirs on Wednesday, which leaves two days for a new short-term measure to be voted in order to keep the government open in time. Republicans are expecting that the problem will be solved on Tuesday.
The new stopgap continuing resolution is probably going to fund the government through March 23, but the date is not finalized yet.
Two sources familiar with the situation told The Hill that the continuing resolution (CR) would fund the government through March 23, though the decision hasn’t been finalized.
When asked about a six-week funding bill, an aide for the Senate Appropriations Committee said that they are “on board, with a primary interest in accepting any date that makes the most sense in the context of getting a deal and final resolution of the fiscal year 2018 appropriations.”
The Hill also reports that there are early signs of trouble in the House, where GOP leadership could need to pass a fifth stopgap bill since September with GOP-only votes. Defense and fiscal hawks have become increasingly frustrated about supporting the stopgap measures without a long-term budget deal in sight.
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