WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans unveiled Tuesday a stopgap spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21, daring Democrats to block it knowing that the fallout would likely be a partial government shutdown that would begin Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year.
The bill would generally fund agencies at current levels, with a few exceptions, including an extra $88 million to boost security for lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court and the executive branch. The proposed boost comes as lawmakers face an increasing number of personal threats, with their concerns heightened by last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The House is expected to vote on the measure by Friday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he would prefer the Senate take it up this week as well. But any bill will need some Democratic support to advance through the Senate, and it’s unclear whether that will happen.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries have been asking their Republican counterparts for weeks for a meeting to negotiate on the bill, but they say that Republicans have refused. Any bill needs help from at least seven Democrats in the Senate to overcome procedural hurdles and advance to a final vote.
A Vox podcast (Today Explained) speculated that that Dems won’t put the gov into shutdown because they are afraid that the GOP would retaliate by eliminating the filibuster, and then strong arming literally everything and anything they want without opposition.
I am, admittedly, not super up on how politics works at this kind of a political level but that’s what was discussed. Another person said they doubted the GOP would do it because they like it as an option if an opposing party has control, but it’s an option. However, Dems don’t want to gamble and want to be sure of the best outcome.