国会又一次朝着本月晚些时候开始的政府关闭飞奔——除非立法者采取行动。
9月份，当国会靠墙支持以避免政府瘫痪时，国会通过了——唐纳德·特朗普总统签署了——一项临时资助政府的持续决议。但捷克共和国的资金将于11月21日用完，这是国会山通常缓慢运转的最后期限。
两周多一点的即将到来的政府关闭的想法已经让立法者说他们将被迫再次通过CR。这个问题已经从如果将需要一个CR多久一个是必须的，基本上放弃在感恩节前最后期限前通过预算的希望。
“我的评估是可能会持续到二月，”他说。理查·谢尔比参议员(阿拉巴马州)。)，参议院拨款委员会主席。“会吗？这不是我能决定的。”
特朗普没有排除在众议院迅速进行的弹劾调查中政府关门的可能性，而在去年假期中受到美国政府最长时间关门影响的美国人无疑又一次感到焦虑。
当被问及是否能承诺避免关门时，特朗普周日回应道:“这取决于谈判内容——我不会做出任何承诺。”
“我们看看会发生什么...[民主党人]什么都没做，”他继续说道。“他们所能做的就是谈论一个打给乌克兰总统的电话，那是完美的。很完美。这是一个完美的电话，他们在这个电话上挂着帽子。”
谢尔比强调，他宁愿与众议院达成协议，让两院通过本财年的拨款法案。但是只剩下八个工作日了，国会作为一个整体将会在这里讨论这样一个协议，谢尔比建议延长到年底是一个合理的结果。
共和党大会主席、众议院第三号共和党参议员约翰·巴拉索(共和党)表示，共和党全国代表大会也可能在今年年底结束。罗伊·布朗特参议员。)，共和党政策委员会主席、第四大共和党人说，“几乎必须有另一个共和党人。”
理查·谢尔比参议员(阿拉巴马州)。4月2日华盛顿特区每周政策午餐会前，在参议院地下室对记者发表讲话
谢尔比还说，他打算下周某个时候亲自会见众议院拨款委员会主席尼塔·洛维(纽约民主党)，希望能就支出法案达成“解决我们的分歧”。众议院目前休会到11月12日，退伍军人节的第二天。
帕特里克·莱希参议员。)，参议院拨款委员会的最高民主党人，也表示CR是不可避免的，尽管他“讨厌持续的决议”他希望临时筹资措施尽可能短。
莱希说:“不幸的是，当他们说有必要的时候，就有必要了。”。"如果每个人都想坐下来工作，这是可以做到的。"
本财年一个多月以来，众议院通过了12项资助政府机构的支出法案中的10项，而参议院仅通过了4项。但是已经通过的拨款措施为零这意味着商会仍必须协商支出水平。
除此之外，特朗普的南部边界墙仍存在资金争夺，包括如何支付总统作为其紧急声明的一部分，单方面从五角大楼转移到隔离墙建设的35亿美元。特朗普要求为今年的预算拨款约86亿美元，众议院民主党人不会批准这个数字。
上周，参议院民主党人第二次阻止了推进国防开支法案的程序性投票，因为他们指责共和党对手包括边界墙资金。
参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(R-Ky)说:“由于我们的民主党同事上周选择阻挠国防拨款，并阻止为我们的武装部队提供资金的立法，我们将把注意力转向[的司法确认，同时等待拨款方面的进展。”。)在参议院发言时说。
AS TRUMP REFUSES TO RULE OUT A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, LAWMAKERS POINT TO SHORT-TERM FUNDING SAVIOR
Congress is once again hurtling toward a government shutdown set to commence later this month—unless lawmakers act.
When backed against a wall to avert a halt of government in September, Congress passed—and President Donald Trump signed—a continuing resolution (CR) that temporarily funded the government. But that CR funding runs out November 21, a fast-approaching deadline for the snail-like pace at which Capitol Hill typically operates.
The idea of a looming shutdown that's little more than two weeks away already has lawmakers saying they'll be forced to again pass a CR. The question has morphed from if a CR will be necessary into how long one will need to be, essentially abandoning hope of passing a budget by the pre-Thanksgiving deadline.
"My assessment is one could run into February," said. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Will it? It's not up to me."
Trump has not ruled out a government shutdown amid the House's fast-moving impeachment inquiry, and Americans who were impacted by the nation's longest closure of government during last year's holiday season undoubtedly fret another.
Asked whether he could commit to avoiding a shutdown, Trump responded on Sunday: "It depends on what the negotiation—I wouldn't commit to anything."
"We'll see what happens...[Democrats] aren't getting anything done," he continued. "All they can do is talk about one phone call made to the President of Ukraine that was perfect. It was prefect. It was a perfect phone call and they're hanging their hat on this one phone call."
Shelby emphasized he'd rather come to an agreement with the House and have both chambers pass appropriations bills for the current fiscal year. But with just eight remaining working days left where Congress, as a whole, will be in town to hash out such a deal, Shelby suggested a CR extending until years' end was a plausible outcome.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the chamber as GOP Conference Chairman, said a CR may go through the end of the year, too. And Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the No. 4 Republican as chair of the GOP Policy Committee, said "there would almost have to be another CR."
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) speaks to reporters in the Senate basement before a weekly policy luncheon on April 2 in Washington, D.C.
Shelby also said he aims to meet personally with Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, sometime next week to hopefully come to a "resolution of our differences" on spending bills. The House is currently on recess until November 12, the day after Veterans' Day.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, also indicated a CR was inevitable, despite the fact he "hates continuing resolutions." His hope was that the temporary funding measure would be as short as possible.
"Well, unfortunately, when they say it's necessary, it makes it necessary," Leahy said. "It could have been done if everybody wanted to sit down and work."
More than a month into the current fiscal year, the House has passed 10 of 12 spending bills to fund government agencies while the Senate has passed just four. But zero of the appropriations measures that have passed align, which means the chambers must still negotiate spending levels.
On top of that, there is still a battle over funding for Trump's southern border wall, including how to pay for the $3.5 billion the president unilaterally diverted from the Pentagon to wall construction as part of his emergency declaration. Trump has requested some $8.6 billion for this year's budget, a figure that House Democrats will not approve.
For the second time, Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote to advance a defense spending bill last week because they accused their GOP counterparts of including border wall money.
"Since our Democratic colleagues chose last week to filibuster defense funding and blocked legislation to fund our armed forces, we'll turn our focus to [judicial] confirmations while we wait for progress on appropriations," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
