Will there be a government shutdown? Senators warn 'time is short' as hardline Republicans demand cuts

WASHINGTON — While the House has yet to come back into session from its weeks-long summer break, the Senate, which returned Tuesday, has a gloomy outlook on Congress' odds of avoiding a government shutdown. 

“I’m convinced it’s happening,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told reporters Wednesday, pointing to House conservatives who have downplayed the effects of a shutdown on Americans. “I just think there’s too many people that think there’s some benefit in that.”

Government shutdowns play out differently, but they can have wide-ranging impacts from recipients of food assistance programs seeing delays to federal employees being furloughed.

Senators have been approaching the process of keeping the government funded on a mostly bipartisan basis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday at a weekly press conference the upper chamber would vote next week on three out of the 12 appropriations bills needed to avert a shutdown, praising both Senate Democrats and Republicans for moving swiftly on the process.

On the other hand, Schumer urged the House to follow in the Senate’s footsteps to avoid a shutdown.

“When the House returns next week, I implore, I beg my House Republican colleagues to follow the Senate’s lead, to recognize that time is short, and the only way to avoid a shutdown is through bipartisanship in both the House and Senate,” Schumer said.

Ultra-conservative lawmakers draw hard lines on government shutdown

When the House comes back into session next Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has a daunting task ahead of him: wrangling his narrow four-seat GOP majority to pass a temporary spending bill – called a continuing resolution – to avoid a shutdown by Sept. 30.

But McCarthy’s right flank from the House Freedom Caucus, a loose coalition of the most conservative lawmakers, have drawn hard lines on government spending.

“I think it would be fair to say that (House Republicans) are having a spirited debate over there,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told USA TODAY Wednesday.

The caucus took an official position in August, saying in a statement it will oppose any spending measure that fails to include more security on the southern border, end what the group alleges is “unprecedented weaponization” of the Department of Justice and take down “woke policies" in the Pentagon. The demands reflect a range of conservative lawmakers' grievances in Washington, from the criminal indictments against former President Donald Trump to the Department of Defense's policies surrounding abortion.

“I think that we should be trying to get a good bill, and we should be trying to employ whatever tactics necessary to get that bill, and we’ll see where that ultimately leads,” Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday when asked if he shares the same views of House Freedom Caucus members.

Those demands have virtually zero chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate or even passing with full GOP support in the House. If McCarthy can’t reconcile the differences between his right flank and more moderate members in the GOP conference, the government could be on the path towards a shutdown.

“I'm concerned that the hostage takers and (hard-right) extremists on the Republican side in the House may take us to the brink of a shutdown,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told USA TODAY.

Other GOP senators, though, share similar sentiments with House conservatives on cutting government spending. However, they still believe any funding deal to avert a shutdown will have to come to a middle ground between the House and Senate’s spending proposals.

“All those votes are meaningless, and everybody knows it. What counts is what comes out of that conference committee," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters Wednesday. He said the only way to avert a shutdown is an agreement between the House and Senate.

“The House is a raucous place and some people like government shutdowns, so we’ll see,” Cramer said.

Government shutdown this fall? Americans anxious about possibility

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is the government going to shut down? Hardline Republicans demand cuts