Unless there’s a breakthrough in the House over the next two days, the Senate is expected to move first by advancing a bill without any controversial policy riders that would fund the government until mid-December.
“It’s becoming a mess. Especially our military — they’re suffering. Even if you do a [continuing resolution], you know they don’t get the money they’d normally get. This whole thing’s a debacle,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said of the stalled funding process.
Senate Republicans say Senate Democrats deserve a heap of blame for not moving any of the regular annual spending bills to the floor, despite most of them having already passed through the Appropriations Committee.
But they’re growing increasingly alarmed that Congress may blunder into a shutdown that hurts their chances of taking back control of the Senate.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned lawmakers on Tuesday that it would be “politically beyond stupid” if a government shutdown happens so close to the critical November elections.
“One thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame,” McConnell told reporters.
“One of my favorite old sayings is there’s no education in the second kick of a mule. We’ve been here before. I’m for whatever avoids a government shutdown, and that’ll ultimately end up, obviously, being a discussion between the [Senate] Democratic leader and the Speaker of the House,” he said.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton has more here.
