There are also no formal talks taking place at this time between
Rs and Ds.
Congressional Quarterly reports that House Democrats are
trying to force Speaker John A. Boehner to hold a vote on a clean continuing
resolution to reopen the government through a discharge petition, but
Republicans say it will not work.
Democratic Reps. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, George Miller of
California and Nita M. Lowey of New York introduced the discharge petition Oct.
4 and noted today that if the House remains in session members could start
signing it Oct. 12.
But three Republicans who support a clean version of the
House-passed continuing resolution (H J Res 59) say they will not sign the
discharge petition, which needs 218 votes to force House action.
GOP Reps. Peter T. King of New York, Devin Nunes of California
and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania have all said they will not support the
effort.
“My hope is that we will be able to resolve this situation
prior to October 14, which I believe would be the earliest you could deal with
that discharge petition,” Dent added. “Although I believe you probably couldn’t
deal with it until October 28th for all practical purposes.”
It was unclear how many in the GOP would actually sign the
petition, but more than 20 moderate Republicans have been quietly discussing
possible support for a clean CR.
The GOP-led House has passed a number of narrowly-tailored
stopgap spending bills that would restore funding for an assortment of federal
government programs, including the National Institutes of Health and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
On the Senate side - Senate Minority Whip John
Cornyn (R-TX) stated that it would be “premature” to move on a standalone
guarantee of back pay for federal workers without addressing other elements of
the government shutdown. (On Saturday the House unanimously passed a bill
allowing for retroactive pay for furloughed federal employees. This must
also be approved by the Senate.)
Majority Leader Harry Reid is preparing to move ahead this week
on legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling and is expected to
file a bill shortly on a "clean" debt-limit increase.
While some Congressional hearings are still scheduled for this
week, a number of House and Senate staff have been sent home because they
are considered “non-essential” employees. Many White House staffers
have also not been allowed to return to work. Federal workers are also
not allowed to use their official work email and agency websites are not being
updated.
No comments:
Post a Comment