Government shutdown threat looms larger

Sept. 23, 2011, 10:34 a.m. EDT

Government shutdown threat looms larger

Senate leaders plan to reject House funding bill, offer alternative

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A government shutdown looms in just a week as the Democratic-led Senate prepares to reject a House-passed funding bill on Friday.

In an after-midnight vote, the House approved a bill to fund the government through Nov. 18, after Republican leaders convinced conservatives to vote for the spending measure they’d previously rejected.

Democrats said it doesn’t have enough disaster relief aid as the bill passed on a 219-203 vote.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where a say they’ll vote it down and offer an alternate measure. “[The bill] fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and it will be rejected by the Senate,” said Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who’s majority leader.

The standoff comes just a week before the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to be out on a week-long vacation beginning Monday, but the impasse makes the lawmakers’ break uncertain.

The bill passed the House after Republican leaders killed a $100 million loan for Solyndra, a now-bankrupt solar-panel maker under scrutiny for its ties to the White House.

Here we go again and the fix is only good until Nov 18. I don't believe I have ever seen a group of so called educated individuals who are so totally incompetent. Oh yea, lets go on vacation again. Reminds me of another individual called Nero who supposedly fiddled why Rome burned.

These idiots are at it again...god help us

Agree...it seems they are just making the littlest they have to..like they are waiting for something "else" to happen and make it all go away.

MrsCK wrote:Agree...it seems they are just making the littlest they have to..like they are waiting for something "else" to happen and make it all go away.

Like they are borrowing grocery money from a neighbor till they get their welfare check!! haha-

Hopefully this currency reform will happen soon, next year seems too far away to get everything back into order..

Disaster aid hits brick wall in Congress

By Andy Sullivan and Donna Smith | Reuters – 13 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With aid to disaster victims running out, Congress on Friday ratcheted up a high-stakes confrontation over spending that once again threatens the government's ability to function smoothly.

By a vote of 59 to 36, the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected a broad spending bill that had passed the Republican- controlled House of Representative hours earlier.

Lawmakers from both sides said the bill, which would keep the government running beyond the end of September and provide badly needed aid to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and other disasters, should not be controversial.

But the bitter partisan divide over spending that has dominated Washington this year once again threatened Congress' ability to pass even the most basic legislation as lawmakers squabbled over two provisions that account for a fraction of the trillion-dollar-plus bill.

Aid for disaster victims could dry up by Tuesday if Congress does not replenish a dwindling relief fund. Congress also must extend funding for the entire government to avoid a shutdown on September 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Democrats want to increase the amount of disaster funding and remove a cut to an electric-car program that Republicans included to partially offset the added disaster costs.

With both chambers eager to adjourn for a week-long recess, it was not immediately clear how Congress would resolve the standoff.

The dispute throws into question lawmakers' ability to find common ground on the more painful choices they will have to confront in the coming months as a special bipartisan committee searches for trillions of dollars in budget savings.

"Any delay that occurs because of inaction in the Senate will only imperil needed disaster relief for these thousands of families all across our country," House Speaker John Boehner said at a news conference.

Boehner and other Republican leaders have promised to lower the temperature on Capitol Hill after fierce budget battles with Democrats pushed the government to the brink of a shutdown in April and the edge of default in August.

The months of turmoil in Washington have spooked consumers, rattled investors and led to a cut in the country's top-notch AAA credit rating.

Boehner said he spoke with the Senate's top Democrat, Harry Reid, before the vote. "There wasn't much progress made," he said.

If they keep on doing this anyone want to take a bet that the credit rating will get downgraded further. S&P said one of the reasons for the initial downgrade was all turmoil of disagreements etc.