Dem
47
GOP
53
Funding for the government runs out on Sept. 30. If there is no new funding, the government will shut down. The usual solution is to kick the can down the road with an endless series of continuing resolutions, which generally continue the current level of spending for a few weeks, until the next deadline. In the end, normally the Democrats cave and the Republicans get what they want. That happened in March and the Democratic base went apoplectic. They want a fight, not leaders who just raise the white flag at the end every time.
But even if the base wants a fight this time, the congressional leadership doesn't. The situation is complicated because essential services generally keep running during a "shutdown" and the president gets to decide what is essential. Air traffic control? Essential! Food stamps? Not essential. On the other hand, most people don't understand the ins and outs of this. Democrats can say: "Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House so if they can't keep the government open, it is their fault."
The battle among the Democrats is whether they should give the Republicans what they want in terms of spending or if they
should fight, let the government shut down, and try to pin the tail on the donkey elephant.
To keep the government fully going, 12 appropriation bills have to be passed. One complication here is that the House wants to cut everything except defense spending by 6%. The Senate doesn't want that. So we will have Democrats vs. Republicans but also House vs. Senate. Also a factor is Donald Trump interpreting some bills the way he wants to, which makes Democrats inclined to include no leeway at all and write in very specific staffing levels per government unit so there is no wiggle room. So this adds Legislative Branch vs. Executive Branch to the mix. When the parties involved don't trust one another, it makes the process very difficult and time consuming. We could yet get a (partial) government shutdown. (V)