(PatriotWise.com) — Congress returned from its August recess on Tuesday with only weeks remaining to pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown, CNBC reported.
The federal government will shut down if Congress cannot agree on spending legislation before midnight on September 30.
While the Senate was in session on Tuesday, the House will not be back to work until next Tuesday, leaving little time to pass any spending measure before the September 30 deadline.
Last Thursday, the White House asked Congress to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at current levels to allow more time for negotiations to continue on more than a dozen long-term spending bills.
House and Senate leaders agree that a continuing resolution would be the best way to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy expressed his support for a continuing resolution in an interview with Fox News last month. He said he hoped to convince House Republicans to support the stopgap measure by warning that investigations into the administration and the Biden family would screech to a halt if the government shuts down.
However, some Republican members are pushing back against the speaker.
The House Freedom Caucus, led by Texas Republican Chip Roy, is looking to tie funding the government to legislation addressing the crisis at the southern border and the weaponization of the federal government.
At a town hall last Thursday, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told constituents that she would vote against any funding bill unless the House votes on opening an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Both the Senate and the House have marked up appropriations bills. The Senate measures are in line with the spending caps set in the recent debt ceiling bill negotiated between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy. However, the House measures have kept spending at lower levels, and many conservative members are seeking to cut spending even further.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell described the divide between the House and Senate bills as “a pretty big mess.”
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