Congress has six days to reach a deal to fund federal government before a possible Oct. 1 shutdown, but guests on the Sunday morning talk shows said no deal appeared to be in sight.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said House Republicans need to “come to their senses” about the looming deadline.
“This is something that can and should be prevented,” he told CNN’s State of the Union. “House Republicans need to come to their senses and keep the government running.”
Democrats are pointing to a deal President Joe Biden cut with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) earlier this year on spending levels that Republicans appear to be backing away from now.
Buttigieg told NBC the administration’s focus is getting the House Republicans to live up to that deal. “The Senate is ready to go; the administration is ready to go,” he said. Asked if a shutdown was inevitable, Buttigieg said “It can’t be. We can’t let it be. This is no way to run the government.”
House Republicans tried to pass a temporary funding extension last week but failed. But while many GOP lawmakers say they want to avoid a shutdown, a small group of them has blocked any temporary measure from going through. This week, the House will try to pass some separate spending items, while the Senate is expected to craft its own short-term spending bill.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.) is one of those opposed to a continuing resolution, telling CNN it’s “just completely throwing away our duties” on the Hill to approve a government budget.
“We’re sticking to our guns,” Burchett said, “and all of a sudden, we’re the bad guys because we want to balance our budget.”
A shutdown could mean furloughs for some federal employees, the delay of key economic data such as the September jobs report, and the closure of some institutions such as the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., which had to close during the last shutdown in 2018-19.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R., Texas) said he doesn’t want to see a shutdown but he disagrees that a continuing resolution is the right way to handle the impasse. “Continuing resolutions don’t solve the problem,” he said. “If you give Congress more time, they’re just going to take that time. Time does not equal solutions.”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) told NBC’s Meet the Press he hoped the House wouldn’t get to a point where a shutdown happens, saying it is “not a foregone conclusion.”
But Clyburn also called out McCarthy on backing away from the deal with the administration. “All of a sudden, McCarthy seemed to be backing away from the deal because five or six people on his side of the aisle seemed to be calling the shots,” he told NBC. “The tail wagging the dog is not the way you do this.”
Write to Liz Moyer at [email protected]
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