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November 10, 2023 10:58 AM UTC

One Week Before Shutdown, and No Plan in Sight

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

The federal government will shut down one week from today as the clock ticks down on the Continuing Resolution (CR) that was the last legislative act of since-deposed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. New House Speaker Mike “No T” Johnson (seen here making what will likely become a permanent meme face) has been trying to keep his promise to House Republicans to hold votes on individual appropriations bills rather than discussing another CR, but Johnson has proved to be just as inept as his predecessors at wrangling votes.

As NPR explains:

Two times this week, Johnson, R-La., was forced to pull federal budget bills from the floor after it became clear that Republican opposition meant they would fail to pass.

Now, there are just seven days left before the federal government is due to shutdown at the end of the day on November 17, not enough time to pass the full suite of annual budget bills. 

Despite the time crunch, Speaker Johnson has not announced the details of his plan for a stopgap funding measure, which would temporarily extend government funding in order to allow lawmakers to sort out their disagreements on the full budget. [Pols emphasis]

As Dana Milbank writes for The Washington Post, Johnson appears to have absolutely no control over the clowns in his caucus:

Before Mike Johnson became speaker, the House of Representatives had voted to censure one of its own members only seven times in 100 years. Since Johnson became speaker, members of the House have tried to censure each other eight times in two weeks…

…It’s not just the speaker’s inability to curb the proliferation of censure resolutions, which have turned the chamber into a seething den of recriminations. In just seven days, the federal government will shut down after a temporary extension in funding (which cost Kevin McCarthy the speakership) expires. And Johnson (R-La.) has been fumbling in the dark.

He squandered this week without passing, or even floating, a plan to avoid a shutdown. His plan — whatever it is — will come to the floor just days before the lights go out. Even fellow Republicans don’t have a clue what will be in Johnson’s plan, but signs point to a labyrinthine, “laddered” temporary funding patch that baffles his colleagues and has been panned by both Democrats and Senate Republicans. [Pols emphasis]

“I’m not going to tell you when we’ll bring it to the floor, but it will be in time,” Johnson said during a news conference this week. “How about that? Trust us. We’re working through the process in a way that I think the people will be proud of.” 

Sure, lets just “trust” “MAGA Mike” Johnson because he has a demonstrated record of…um…well…

Just trust him!

If you’re having trouble with this “trust” thing, you are not alone. In just a few short weeks, Speaker Johnson has painted himself into the same corner as his Republican predecessors. Far-right Republicans — particularly the MAGA freaks and “Freedom Caucus” members — always demand individual appropriations bills rather than a continuing resolution, and then they always prove that they are completely incapable of agreeing on anything. Rinse, repeat. Over and over and over again.

Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois posted a long but very helpful thread today that explains in great detail how and why House Republicans can’t govern, including a rundown of what House Republicans are doing while the government funding clock ticks down:

 

TL;DR: House Republicans aren’t doing anything remotely useful that could stave off a government shutdown.

This is not going to be a huge political problem for Colorado Republican Reps. Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn (Buck isn’t seeking re-election and Lamborn is just Lamborn), but this is incredibly dangerous territory for embattled Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-ifle).

Knowing that her political career is hanging by an increasingly-thin thread, Boebert has been trying to convince her constituents in the third congressional district that she is focused on governing and not just political theater (or any other theater, for that matter). If the government shuts down and thousands of her constituents are stuck without paychecks or other critical government benefits, Boebert won’t have much recourse for deflecting blame — particularly given that she has so closely tied herself to Speaker Johnson.

It is in nobody’s interest for the federal government to shut down at the end of the day on Friday, Nov. 17. Alas, House Republicans keep proving that they are more than willing to light themselves — and the country — on fire for no particular reason. If there is more to Speaker Johnson than we have seen thus far, now is the time for him to demonstrate as much.

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10 thoughts on “One Week Before Shutdown, and No Plan in Sight”

  1. But there is a GOP House plan …. to have a shutdown.

    It will allow both sides to go on their respective soapboxes:  Fox for the right and MSNBC for the left. Each side can shout about how it is entirely the fault of the other side. (Spoiler alert: it's primarily the House GOP's fault.) Each side can fundraise off of it.

    But when all is said and done, this shutdown, like all of the other shutdowns, will be attributed to the GOP. The crazies in the safe House districts will survive. In fact, they will probably thrive. Those 18 Republican House members from Biden districts, on the other hand, will be sweating the next eleven and half months, and many will lose their seats. smiley

    Johnson and his crew really think that this time the shutdown will work to their advantage.

  2. The Maga party has replaced the old greedy old perverts grand old party.  M wants the shut down as much as they like floating stupid amendments to the bill to reduce salaries to one dollar. 

     

    I am happy to not have to deal with preparing for a shutdown, being furloughed, hanging around my boat for a week or more, trying to find out if we are going back to work, getting back on the ol' computer and trying to catch up on a backlog of stuff.  Shut down makes for more work because you are already understaffed and now have to do all the work that was not done, but the daily stuff that also has to be done.

     

    Will the M party ever learn?  History says "nope". 

  3. FIRST:  Please widen the scroll bar on the right hand side.  It's cute, but it takes me several attempts to use it. 

    Regarding the government funding.  It is amazing that we are 7 days out from a govt shutdown.  The House recessed early and I guess won't return until Monday afternoon, when there are 4.5 days left.  Meanwhile, the R's just offer up bills with poison pills, and are following their script of only R-fully supported bills will be brought to the floor.  Heaven help us!  What is truly astounding is that the media is not really seeming to notice this very short time until so many services are shut down and federal employees furloughed. 

    Dana Milbank's column is a must read (unfortunately, it is behind a paywall).  One of his observations that can make your sides ache with laughter: 

    “I refuse to put people over politics,” the new speaker wrote in a fundraising email to supporters last week. Was this a typo? Or a statement of policy?   

    Although we can laugh at the crazy, the looniness of the House GOP is going to have negative impacts on us all…..and very soon. 

     

  4. Shutdown seems likely …

    Essential government workers will need to work, but won't get paid until later.  Others stay away, and MAY get their usual salary if Congress includes that in the "back to work" budget.  Contractors … nope.  I don't think they've EVER gotten made whole.  Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Democratic Whip, explained "More than 3.5 million federal employees and military personnel — many in the Washington, D.C., area but also scattered across the states and around the globe — are bracing for another partial government shutdown." 

    Democratic Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, whose Virginia district includes a substantial number of government employees. “The natural reaction for most people is to pull back,” he said, as these families look to conserve money. “You have this huge ripple effect from a shutdown that affects the economy writ large.”

    And all of this uncertainty for federal government employees and contractors is just in time for Thanksgiving weekend: travels to see family, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Probably the biggest 4 days for all retail sales.

    1. I didn't even see the right-side scroll bar until you mentioned there was one.  All I see is a 1-pixel-wide green line.  I'm on a 24" monitor (1920×1080 resolution) on my Windows 10 PC.  If I try very carefully, I can click on it, and then the screen jumps way up out of my control. 🙁

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