government shutdown

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

President Donald Trump—after first urging Republican lawmakers to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and then later arguing that there was, in fact, no point in pursuing such a bill until after November’s midterm elections—is now threatening to shut down the government if Congress does not fund…

After threatening to veto a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill before a midnight government shutdown deadline Friday morning, President Donald Trump ultimately signed the measure, citing national security concerns.

An omnibus funding bill is facing delays in Congress ahead of a Friday government shutdown deadline, with lawmakers scrambling to answer a number of open questions in the $1.3 trillion package related to border security, infrastructure projects, and gun violence prevention measures.

As Congress faces another deadline to pass a spending bill or risk the third government shutdown in three months, lawmakers see an opportunity to advance gun violence prevention measures that have previously stalled in Congress.

For decades, Republicans have been stuck with the epithet “the stupid party,” and they’ve often deserved it. But there’s been a switch in the Trump era. Democrats now are the stupid party.

Lawmakers in the Senate are expected to pass a bipartisan two-year budget deal ahead of a midnight government shutdown deadline when it comes to a vote Thursday evening, leaving the ball in the House’s court.

Senate leaders announced Wednesday afternoon that they reached a massive two-year budget deal after weeks of negotiations in hopes of averting a government shutdown when funding runs out Thursday at midnight.

“What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” Bill Murray asks in Groundhog Day. “That about sums it up for me,” a drinking buddy answers.

It’s not surprising that members of Congress would have a habit of repeating a short list of talking points, given how often they face the media and how important it is for them to stay on message. But that tendency was more apparent than usual last week during a feud over a stopgap spending…

So the Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl for the 278th consecutive year. The last time New England did not make the Super Bowl, the Hapsburgs were still on thrones. Gosh is it exciting when the same team wins over and over and over!

After a two-day impasse, enough Senate Democrats agreed to pass a short-term continuing budget resolution Monday, the first step to ending a government shutdown that began early Saturday morning. The measure passed overwhelmingly, with just 18 senators, mostly Democrats, opposing. The House of…

Time dulls the sharp edges of painful memories, but some events are so traumatic that they are burned into our psyches where they live on forever.

A short-term funding bill to end a three-day government shutdown passed the House Monday evening after getting a thumbs-up from the Senate earlier in the day.

“Republicans Just Killed The Bill To Make Sure Troops Get Paid During Shutdown,” or so ran a headline from Addicting Info, flagged as potential fake news by Facebook users.

Lawmakers in the Senate reached an agreement to end the government shutdown Monday afternoon, but congressional Democrats who voted down a spending bill that would have kept the government open on Friday because it did not include a replacement for the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood…

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Trump negotiated toward a bargain on immigration reform that could have satisfied both parties and reduced the likelihood of a shutdown, the New York Times reported hours before government funding expired at midnight Saturday. Democrats would have…

Donald Trump and the White House have greeted the government shutdown, which has been in effect since the Senate was unable to pass a continuing budget resolution by early Saturday morning, as an opportunity to push this point: Democrats are extremists on immigration.

On the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. government shut down.

Lawmakers in the House voted to advance a short-term spending bill Thursday night, a critical next step in keeping the government up and running before funds run out at midnight on Friday.

A West Wing source says the White House is “cautiously optimistic” that a government shutdown can be avoided by the Friday spending deadline. Questions remain: Can the House pass its continuing resolution (which leadership spent Wednesday whipping on) to fund the government for another month?…

As Washington stares down the barrel of a government shutdown, the White House is refusing to back down from its budget terms. Appearing on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Congress must pass a continuing resolution now, then try to find a bipartisan deal on…

President Trump was planning to meet with Democratic leaders Tuesday to discuss a deal to prevent a government shutdown next month. But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer canceled the meeting Tuesday morning after Trump attacked them on Twitter and said he didn’t expect to strike a deal.

As they devise a strategy to place a tax bill on President Trump’s desk, Republicans in Congress are grappling with thorny issues: What can pass the Senate? How much should they add to the deficit? How will tax changes play with voters in 2018?

It's supposed to go like this: Lawmakers make the law, and the president then enforces it. That very obvious function of government might help the Republican party prevent a government shutdown later this week.

Today in the New York Times our own Matt Labash joins Gail Collins in a chat about presidential pets, government shutdowns, and fake news.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell chided the opposition for holding up last-minute spending legislation to keep the government funded beyond midnight Saturday, as a small group of Democratic senators pledged to fight the bill until they could secure a longer extension of health benefits for…

Something has gotten into Ted Cruz. The Republican senator is known as a conservative firebrand willing to take on his own party, but in a Thursday meeting with reporters in his Capitol Hill office, Cruz was sounding almost ecumenical. Maybe it was the presence of Pope Francis.

The government shutdown may have ended last October, but the Treasury Department's voicemail is telling callers a different story. 

Longtime Mississippi senator Thad Cochran, who will be 76 at the end of this year, hasn't said whether he'll run for a seventh term in 2014. But late last week another Republican entered the primary race for Senate, and he's challenging Cochran from the right. Chris McDaniel, a state senator,…

“We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around.”

President Barack Obama delivered remarks from the White House Thursday morning following the conclusion of the government shutdown and the raising of the debt ceiling. The president praised government as an entity "we rely on" in a "whole lot of ways." He also said that he hoped the country had…

The Senate voted Wednesday night to raise the federal debt ceiling and to reopen the government. The bill passed overwhelmingly, 81 senators supporting to 18 opposing, and will now go the House of Representatives. House speaker John Boehner has said he will not block a vote on the Senate bill…

On Tuesday evening, the reelection campaign for Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor emailed supporters about a recent "secret meeting" between Republican senator Ted Cruz and a group of House Republicans at a restaurant on Capitol Hill, Tortilla Coast. Pryor campaign manager Jeff Weaver suggested that the…

Mark Steyn, writing for National Review Online:

After the reelection of President Obama, House speaker John Boehner was disappointed, dispirited, and wary of a new round of clashes with the president. House Republicans had planned a fresh effort to repeal Obamacare, but, he told NBC News, “the election changes that.” He negotiated with Obama to…

Who's really to blame for the federal government’s shutdown? According to President Obama, it’s those ideologically obstinate congressional Republicans who will do anything to undermine the Affordable Care Act, the signature achievement of his presidency. For those same Republicans, it’s the…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on his recent piece "The President's Shutdown."

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Mark Hemingway on his view of the government shutdown from inside the Beltway.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the unwillingness by President Obama to lead on the budget, debt, and the continuing resolution.

House speaker John Boehner has released a statement jointly with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

While the possible government shutdown means most federal employees, from the National Park Service workers to those handling your tax returns at the IRS, won't be coming into work, some bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are going to keep punching the clock. At the…

Mike Flynn at Big Government asks if military paychecks will be held in a possible government shutdown. Flynn fears the answer is yes, based on a draft guidance document from the Pentagon released last month, and he notes that this would differ from what happened under the Clinton administration…

Earlier today, Senate majority leader Harry Reid said during floor remarks that he would support a "clean" short-term spending bill passed by the House, and President Obama indicated later that he would sign such a bill. The problem, Reid said in a press conference later, is all of the "riders" the…

From a rough transcript of Democratic majority leader Harry Reid's remarks on the Senate floor this morning: 

Did Glenn Beck make some sort of announcement today?

Why a U.S. government shutdown is worth it

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is busy scaremongering about the prospect of a government shutdown if the Democrats don't agree to Republican budget cuts:

Congressional Democrats engaged in more saber rattling today over concerns House Republicans will shutdown the government if Democrats don't agree to some pretty significant budget cuts. The continuing resolution funding the federal government expires on March 4: