A government shutdown looms as Congress risks missing a key deadline this weekend over the battle in the Senate on a massive 2,000-page catchall spending bill that Republicans have vowed to oppose unless they can strip it of earmarks.Harry Reid is trying to bully the GOP into accepting his loathsome bill by threatening to blame them for a government shut down. So what? There won't be another election for nearly two years. Harry's threats have no teeth in them.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected Thursday to take up the $1.27 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.
But Republicans have threatened to stall debate by forcing the 1,924-page bill to be read aloud in the Senate -- a move that would take 35 to 40 hours and push the debate into Saturday, according to numerous aides.
A temporary stopgap measure currently funding the government is set to expire midnight on Saturday. But a number of procedural steps would prevent the Senate from getting to a final vote until late Monday or early Tuesday.
"It's not our fault," a senior Senate Democratic leadership aide said about a potential government shutdown. The aide argues that Republicans are insisting on obstructing this bill.
Republicans and some Democrats argue that the Senate should follow in the footsteps of the House and pass another temporary spending bill to fund the government at current levels until February, when lawmakers would have time to examine the spending. By then, Republicans will control the House and hold six additional seats in the Senate.
But if President Obama doesn't sign into law either the Democratic-proposed bill or a temporary stopgap measure by Saturday, then the government will close shop.
Shut it down or pass a continuing resolution. Let the next Congress do the hard budget work that the Democrats refused to do because it would have cost them even more seats.
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