Lawmakers in the House of Representative voted to pass a bill on November 14 that sets the government on a path to temporarily avert a shutdown on Saturday.
Should there be a shutdown, however, many government departments and agencies would close and with them many public services and programs.
The legislation, a temporary stopgap measure, passed with a bipartisan vote of 336 to 95. It now moves to the Senate for discussion and a vote and, if passed, on to President Joe Biden to sign before the shutdown deadline expires at midnight November 17.
The bill aims to buy time for lawmakers to further debate and ideally pass 12 appropriations bills that would provide funding for key government agencies next year, action that they have been unable to reach agreement on for months.
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) proposed the legislation, which would create a two-step process that would delay a vote on passing some of the appropriations bills until January 17, with a separate vote on the rest of the bills on February 2.
Johnson needed to rely on House Democrats to reach the necessary two-thirds supermajority for the bill to pass. He now faces opposition from some hard-right Republicans who wanted it to include deep spending cuts. Some of these same Republicans helped to oust his predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last month after he also was forced to rely on Democrats to temporarily avert a shutdown.
In the Senate, both Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said they would support the two-step plan, as did the White House.
With the Senate expected to vote this week, here’s what to know about the agencies and services that are at stake:
- How Medicare Would Be Affected By A Government Shutdown
- A Government Shutdown Impacts Veterans In A Few Ways
- What Would a Government Shutdown Do to the IRS?
- What A Government Shutdown Means For Student Loan Payments
- How Social Security Would Be Affected By A Government Shutdown
- A Government Shutdown Could Disrupt Your Travel Plans — Eventually
At a recent press conference, Johnson expressed the need for getting the bill passed.
According to a Reuters November 14 report, Johnson told reporters that moving beyond a shutdown "and making sure that government stays in operation is a matter of conscience for all of us."
