House & Senate Move Further Apart As Deadline Looms

September 27, 2023 5:04 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is starkly divided over very different paths to preventing a federal shutdown. The Senate is charging ahead with a bipartisan package to temporarily fund the government and bolster Ukraine aid and U.S. disaster funds. Meanwhile, the House is slogging through a longshot effort to pass various funding bills with no real chance of finishing by Saturday’s deadline. With days remaining before a federal closure, the stakes are rising. A shutdown would furlough millions of federal employees, leave the military without pay, disrupt air travel and cut off vital safety net services. The White House says it’s up to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to keep the budget deal he made with President Joe Biden.