If Congress doesn’t pass a spending package by midnight on Friday, the federal government will shut down. To keep the lights on, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has to pull off a feat (again), uniting his fractious, razor-thin majority.
Vice President Vance will start the day Tuesday meeting with the House Republican Conference, ahead of an expected vote on a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded through Sept. 30, boost funding for defense and impose cuts for nondefense programs.
Republicans have touted the stopgap as “clean,” The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell report. But Democrats argue the measure is anything but, hammering away at what they say will be cuts to health care, nutritional assistance and veterans benefits. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his two deputies announced Saturday they will oppose the bill, and leadership is whipping against the measure.
Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats will meet in Saudi Arabia with their Ukrainian counterparts, just days after an explosive meeting in the Oval Office.
Fallout from President Trump’s trade war with Canada, Mexico and China continues to rattle financial markets.
Senate Republicans expressed new worries about the economy Monday after Wall Street had one of its worst days in years amid a trade war and remarks from President Trump that did not rule out the possibility of a recession. Expect that to come up at a 1 p.m. White House press briefing.
“I am concerned because of rising prices and paychecks not going as far as they used to go is very concerning,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of leadership.
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