Congress Makes No Progress on Ending Government Shutdown

By failing to pass a continuing resolution (CR) by October 1 to fund discretionary programs at FY13 levels, Congress has shut down the federal government. The House demanded a series of changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in exchange for passing a CR. The Senate rejected all attempts to link the CR to the ACA and President Barack Obama has made it clear he would veto any bill that slowed down or made changes to the ACA. No progress towards ending the stalemate was made by week’s end and Congress had not yet agreed to provide the funds required to reopen the federal government. As the first week of the shutdown wore on, Members of the House introduced a series of bills to reopen selected federal agencies. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that the Senate will not negotiate a piecemeal approach to government funding and called in the House to pass a “clean” CR to fund all government operations. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) has not changed his position that reopening the government with temporary FY14 funding should be contingent upon halting or making changes to the ACA. A number of Republican House Members have stepped forward to demand Speaker Boehner bring a clean CR to the floor. With all Democrats presumably voting for the clean CR, these Republicans may provide enough votes to pass a CR and reopen the federal government. So far, Speaker Boehner has declined to do so.The Non-Defense Discretionary (NDD) United group issued a statement against the “piecemeal approach” that the House is attempting to advance to partially end the shutdown. “NDD United, an alliance of more than 3,200 national, state, and local organizations working to protect investments in core government functions, strongly opposes piecemeal attempts to make the government shutdown livable… We urge you to oppose cherry-picking certain priorities for funding in a piecemeal fashion because this is not a credible solution to this self-imposed, budget crisis.” NDD United also drew attention to the issue of ending sequestration saying that “in the ongoing debate about whether or not to fund the government, we are gravely concerned that Congress is ignoring an equally critical issue—the level of funding for fiscal 2014 and how to stop sequestration.”As the shutdown continues, the date by which Congress must address the nation reaching the debt limit, October 17, grows closer. Congress may not move forward with negotiations on the CR until they are forced to address the debt limit. Congress may take up FY14 funding and the broader fiscal issues including sequestration, tax reform, and the debt ceiling limit simultaneously. If Congress does not raise the debt limit by October 17, the United States will default on its debts and face a credit downgrade. President Obama has repeatedly stated that he will not negotiate over whether the nation pays its debts. Speaker Boehner has stated he will not allow a default. The timing of the debt limit may serve as an impetus for all fiscal negotiations. View the full NDD statement: http://bit.ly/178udOg