By Gabby Birenbaum
There are just a few days until government funding lapses, and with House Republicans yet to pass a spending bill, federal agencies are preparing to close. The last government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — lasted 35 days in 2018 and 2019.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) got a new bill through committee, and it was Fly In Week for the Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which hosted a packed schedule of events in Washington this week to advocate for its priorities.
September is spending season on Capitol Hill, when both chambers of Congress must pass appropriations bills to set government funding levels for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, and earn the president’s signature.
When those bills cannot be agreed upon by the House, the Senate or the president, and an agreement does not emerge before the prior year’s spending authorizations expire, then the government shuts down.
Government shutdowns have effects far beyond Washington, D.C. Federal employees, from the military to Transportation Security Administration workers to the staff at national parks, can get furloughed. Federally funded programs such as food assistance, which require annual authorization, do not get paid out. (The Department of Agriculture is typically authorized to send out food stamp benefits for 30 days, so they may not lapse if the shutdown is short.)
Unlike a breach of the debt limit — a congressional battle from earlier this year — government shutdowns do occur, but infrequently.Three have lasted for more than a week: the aforementioned partial shutdown of 2018-19, a 2013 saga that cost the economy billions of dollars, and a 1995-96 battle between congressional Republicans and then-President Bill Clinton.
For Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), the longest-serving member of the Nevada delegation, a shutdown at the end of next week would be her fourth, counting a brief 2018 shutdown that lasted three days. As a shutdown veteran, she’s worried about the impacts on Nevada’s economy, particularly in travel and tourism.
“Training for air traffic controllers stops,” she said. “It’ll impact air travel. And also, money for Lake Mead, recreational areas. So those are two direct impacts on Nevada.”
And Las Vegas, which is expecting an influx of foreign tourists for the F1 race in November, could be harmed by a long, drawn-out shutdown — Titus mentioned that visa processing, which has already been slow, could get worse.
While entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are considered mandatory spending and unaffected by shutdowns, grants to groups in Nevada dealing with issues ranging from conservation to education to health care will be on hold.
Federal agencies are now beginning to put out contingency plans to deal with the stoppage of funds for a host of priorities the White House has outlined.
Furloughed employees will get back pay once a shutdown has ended — something Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who has voted with the bulk of House Republicans for a stopgap funding measure, noted, though he added in his e-newsletter that “shutting down the government doesn’t benefit anyone.”
In an interview, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), who was in the Senate for the 35-day shutdown, said she was worried about servicemembers at Nevada’s numerous military bases.
“Anybody who has any relationship with the federal government in our communities is going to be impacted,” she said. “It’s going to be devastating.”
Both Cortez Masto and Titus laid the blame squarely at the feet of House Republicans. In May, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden agreed to set spending levels for the 2024 fiscal year at a topline 1 percent greater than the last fiscal year. This agreement passed both chambers of Congress — without the support of the far-right members who have been a thorn in McCarthy’s side since his 15-round speakership battle.
But McCarthy gave into his right flank’s demands to write appropriations bills at levels lower than that agreement. Still, that bloc blanched at a stopgap funding bill that would have given the House more time to pass appropriations bills, voting it down. Now, House Republicans will try to pass 11 individual spending bills next week.
Even if Republicans manage to pass funding bills — something they’ve been unable to do over the last two weeks — their proposals, which would slash government spending, would be dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate and in the White House.
The Senate, meanwhile, passed its appropriations bills in committee with large bipartisan majorities. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he is negotiating with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to try and pass a short-term stopgap bill to avoid a shutdown and send it to the House, even though spending bills are supposed to originate in the House.
“The Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate don’t want to shut down,” Cortez Masto said. “We’re working for just the opposite.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), who previously served in the House, acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that the ball is in the House’s court. And she noted that she is part of a bill to keep lawmakers from getting paid during government shutdowns.
“I hope that cooler heads prevail, because this really impacts real people, and their ability to pay their rent or ability to buy their medication,” she said. “People need to stop the shenanigans.”
One potential option could be a stopgap funding bill endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers’ Caucus, of which Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) is a member. The caucus’ proposal would fund the government through January, with money for Ukraine, disaster relief and stricter border policies.
Leave a Reply