Possibility of government shutdown looms

Democrats and Republicans are playing chicken with a possible government shutdown that would start midnight Saturday, National Journal reports. That is when current stopgap funding legislation expires.

But Congress will likely fail to hit that deadline if Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., demands a reading of the 1,900-page, $1.108 trillion omnibus spending bill in order to show his disdain for it. A full reading is expected to take until Saturday, when a cloture vote could be set for Monday, according to a Senate leadership aide.

But House and Senate Democrats said Wednesday they have no plans to extend the current continuing resolution.

"If they want to shut down the government,'' said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., "that's their problem."

Seeking to erode support for the omnibus, Republicans lashed out Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said it was "a legislative slap in the face" to voters who want Congress to spend less.

Senate Democrats could bring up the omnibus as soon as Thursday, but DeMint is considering forcing a reading of the bill.

A Senate leadership aide said that would take about 50 hours. Once the reading is done, which would likely be Saturday, a cloture vote could be set for Monday, with final passage possibly Tuesday.

Senate Democratic leaders are hoping the GOP does not insist on all 30 hours of debate if cloture is invoked. After the omnibus, Senate Democratic leaders intend to go back to the START treaty.

Under this scenario Congress would likely have to pass another stopgap funding measure.

House Rules ranking member David Dreier, R-Calif., told Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., during a meeting that "some Senate people" are saying it was likely there would be a government shutdown this weekend.

Slaughter responded: "We've sent the CR over there. There are no plans at this moment for us to do a second CR."