Congress has returned to Washington with a government shutdown less than five days away and lawmakers are still scrambling for ways to avoid it.
That wasn't supposed to be the case.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Tuesday that the Senate will vote today to start debate on a bipartisan stop-gap spending bill with funding for Ukraine and disaster relief. Even if the Senate is able to quickly pass the legislation, there is no guarantee House leaders will even schedule a vote on the measure.
"Over the weekend Senate Democrats and Republicans together worked in good faith to reach an agreement on a continuing resolution that will keep the government open beyond Sept. 30," Schumer said on the Senate floor.
"While for sure this bill does not have everything either side wants, it will continue to fund the government at present levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine's security and humanitarian needs while also ensuring that those impacted by natural disasters across the country begin to get the resources they need."
Details of the bill have not yet been released but the move allows Senate leaders to clearly communicate their priorities to the House. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters he also wants to avoid a shutdown.
"Delaying action on short-term government funding doesn't advance the ball on any meaningful policy priorities," McConnell said. "Shutting the government down over a domestic budget dispute doesn't strengthen anyone's political position."
It's unclear if the Senate can muster sufficient support for a plan that includes additional aid for Ukraine or several, recent U.S. public disasters, like the deadly fires in Maui, a key objective for Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is among the senators who have said they will not support legislation that includes extraneous money beyond the basic functions of keeping the government open.
Any Senate-led solution would require unanimous agreement to move fast enough to avoid a shutdown, and even then, a deal would almost certainly require votes from House Democrats in order to pass.
Senate pressures House to honor debt limit deal with Biden
McConnell has repeatedly said believes Congress should honor the agreement House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached in May during debt limit talks with President Biden. That agreement, which set spending targets for two years, was part of a bipartisan debt limit package that overwhelmingly passed the House in a 343-117 vote.
McCarthy negotiated that plan. House Democrats agreed. So did Senate Republicans. And Senate Democrats. But a small group of hard-line conservatives in the House immediately rejected the plan for failing to agree to deeper spending cuts. The group pressured McCarthy into backing away from the agreement.
For the past several months, McCarthy has accepted the conservative demands as he attempts to navigate a razor-thin majority of just four votes.
McCarthy has said, repeatedly, that he does not want to see the government shut down.
"I don't think anybody wins a shutdown," McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol last week. "Think for one moment what a shutdown does. It stops paying our troops. How do you have more leverage in that situation? I've watched shutdown after shutdown, everybody loses."
House Republicans spent the weekend setting up a plan to hold votes on several of the 12 annual funding bills that include deep spending cuts. Those bills align with conservative demands, but they will not prevent a shutdown.
House could still block a stopgap spending bill
Even if the Senate is able to move quickly on a stopgap, it's unclear if McCarthy would allow a Senate plan to get a vote. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has threatened to begin the formal process to remove McCarthy as speaker if he does not comply with far-right demands.
McCarthy is also under pressure from former President Trump, who has pushed for spending cuts. Trump is in close contact with some of the GOP holdouts in the House and has posted publicly in favor of cuts.
"The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be BLAMED for the Budget Shutdown. Wrong!!! Whoever is President will be blamed, in this case, Crooked (as Hell!) Joe Biden!" Trump posted Sunday on his social media site Truth Social.
A small bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the Problem Solvers Caucus has begun work on a plan to use a House procedure known as a discharge petition to get around McCarthy and force a vote on spending. That plan could take weeks and would require at least 218 votes, meaning Democrats and Republicans would have to agree to the strategy.
For now, that leaves the fate of government spending largely in McCarthy's hands.
