On The Money — GOP blocks spending bill to kick off chaotic week in congress

Happy Monday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: Democrats have little time to make a lot of important decisions. We’ll also look at the early retirements of two Fed presidents and a looming battle over bank regulations.

But first, a new ghost town just dropped.

For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@digital-staging.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let’s get to it.

Republicans block debt limit hike, government funding 

Senate Republicans on Monday evening blocked a measure to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling, carrying through on their threat to not deliver votes for a Democratic measure to raise the government’s borrowing limit.

The vote was being held open at 48-50 more than an hour after it began. Sixty votes were needed to advance the measure, and no Republicans voted to advance it.

The setback is the latest in a slow-motion brawl over how to fund the government and deal with the debt ceiling, which kicked back in on Aug. 1 with the Treasury Department using “extraordinary measures” since then to keep the government solvent.

• Congress has until the end of Thursday to pass a government funding bill to avoid a shutdown the following day. 
• The deadline for needing to deal with the country’s borrowing limit is less definite. 
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leadership they might need to take action as soon as next month.

Democratic leaders haven’t unveiled what their next step will be, but they are vowing to prevent a shutdown on their watch. In order to deliver on that promise, they’ll need Republican cooperation to speed up a government funding bill.

“Keeping the government open and preventing a default is vital to our country’s future and we’ll be taking further action to prevent this from happening this week,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.

Jordian Carney brings us up to speed here.

LEADING THE DAY

Democrats scramble to satisfy disparate members on spending package

House Democrats are scrambling to make changes to their $3.5 trillion spending package in order to satisfy disparate groups of members in time for a floor vote as soon as possible.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said over the weekend that the House needs to pass the bill this week, along with a bipartisan infrastructure bill, a prospect that remains daunting. 

• With Republicans unanimously opposed to the bill, Democrats can only afford three defections, and some moderates voted against parts of the massive legislation as it was considered by various committees. 
• Others supported the legislation in committee but are demanding changes before a final vote.

• The $3.5 trillion package includes many of President Biden’s top priorities in areas such as child care, health care and climate. It also includes tax increases on high-income individuals and corporations to offset the bill’s costs. 

But the exact timing of a vote is unclear as Pelosi balances demand from liberals and centrists related to the $3.5 trillion package and a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Speaker now says will get a House vote on Thursday. And Biden on Monday acknowledged the uncertain fate of his legislative agenda.

“It may not be by the end of the week. I hope it’s by the end of the week,” he said Monday.

Naomi and Aris break it down here.

Read more on the infrastructure push:

• The House Budget Committee advanced Saturday the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending plan as party leaders set their sights on teeing up the package for a vote in the lower chamber this coming week, despite brewing intraparty divisions. 
• Democrats are urging President Biden to lean way in as the party faces big divides amid a rocky stretch, with his signature legislative item at stake. 

FED UP

Boston, Dallas Fed presidents resign amid trading scandal

• Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, announced Monday he would retire early due to health concerns, but amid scrutiny over financial trades he made in 2020.
• Hours later, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan announced his retirement over backlash to millions of dollars of financial trades he made at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

GIVING BIDEN THE BUSINESS

Business groups want seat at the table on Biden vaccine rule

Business groups are growing increasingly frustrated as Labor Department officials move forward with President Biden’s vaccine requirement without seeking their input.

While lobbying groups that represent some of the country’s biggest corporations don’t oppose the rule, which will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing, those same organizations have presented Biden officials with lengthy lists of questions about the rule that have so far gone unanswered.

The background: 

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is implementing the vaccine-or-test requirement, is not taking meetings with business groups or labor unions that are seeking to influence the process or glean more information, according to business lobbyists.
• A representative for OSHA did not respond to a request for comment about whether the agency will engage business and labor groups while it crafts the rule.

But business groups say that without getting input from private employers, OSHA risks releasing a rule that will be ineffective at increasing vaccination rates and difficult to comply with.

Karl Evers-Hilstrom has more here.

Good to Know

Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said Monday that he expects there to be some kind of an agreement this week on Democrats’ multitrillion-dollar social spending package, including on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.

Here’s what else have our eye on:

• Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday raised a red flag over his Democratic colleagues’ push to include a carbon tax in the reconciliation package they will need his vote to pass later this year.
• Instagram announced Monday that it is pausing plans to launch a version of the photo-sharing app targeted for children under the age of 13 following leaked internal reports showing the platform’s effect on the mental health of young users.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.